Alien: Are You Afraid of the Dark?
by Silencer39
Summary: Waking up on a deserted space station with no recollection of how he got there Iain MacRury must travel the darkened halls of the Weyland-Yutani Research Station Hyperion to discover its purpose and more importantly how to get off. But there's something on the station with him, an unstoppable creature. Iain's only hope is to find a way off the station before IT finally catches him.
1. Chapter 1 - Alone

**Chapter 1: Alone**

"Tell the director the operation was a complete success" echoed the gruff voice of a man.

 _Where am I?! Why can't I open my eyes?!_

"Doctor the patient's heart rate is rising erratically!" A new voice exclaimed, a female one.

"What? I thought you said we had him sedated?" The gruff voice answered back crossly.

 _Who is that?! Why can't I breathe?! What's going on?!_

"Damn it the director wants him alive, stabilize him and seal up the incision!" The gruff voice commanded, the sounds of hurried footsteps and clattering metal threatened to overtake everything else. But amongst the chaos of sound there was one that stood out from the rest, a high-pitched, ear splitting screech.

 _Can't breathe! Chest Burning! What's that sound?! Make it stop!_

"Doctor he's slipping into cardiac arrest, we're losing him!" The female voice exclaimed, panic now soaking into her words.

"Like hell we are, out of my way I'll handle this myself! And get that… thing out of here! The director has what he wants so bring it to him!" The sounds of wheels squeaking and heavy footsteps echoed in the darkness and slowly faded away.

"Is it even worth it to try and save him? He barely survived the surgery in the first place" a new voice asked, this one sounded younger than the others. "Poor schmuck's already got one foot in the grave."

 _Alright new voice, fuck you too…_

"What can I say, I like a challenge, Iain MacRury believe it or not this is your lucky day" the gruff man chuckled in the darkness. The few sounds Iain had been able to pick up on slowly faded out of focus turning into distant static.

 _Can't feel anything, the pain's gone, sound's gone too, all alone…_

* * *

Iain awoke with a start gasping desperately for air as he flailed about in a blind panic. His vision was returning to him slowly and as it did Iain began to calm down. As the room around him gradually came into focus he started taking in details as quickly as his sluggish mind would allow. He was in a dark room, the only lights keeping the room from falling into utter blackness were the few ambient lights along the wall. Looking from left to right he spotted several machines on either side of him many of which looked to be connected to his arms and chest.

There were small dressers scattered about the room which looked to be made of actual wood, a rare commodity these days. Despite the lack of light Iain could just make out the walls around him, they were pristine with not a mark on them. The bed he had been lying in was elevated keeping his head up and it had safety rails on either side to avoid accidently falling out. He recognized where he was, he had been in one once as a kid, but how the hell did he wind up in this hospital room?

Rising to a seated position Iain looked around groggily trying to remember how he got there. It didn't make sense, the last thing he remembered was going into cryosleep for his delivery. He had made the trip to deliver supplies to Oboron IV plenty of times and nothing like this ever happened before. He raked through his memories feverishly trying to recall anything else but there was nothing else to remember. He got the request from his supervisor as per usual, had his supplies loaded aboard his freighter, which went smoother than usual, he took off without a hitch, set his course and went to sleep.

Looking back down at the wires and sensors hooked up to him, Iain wondered what had happened to him to require such monitoring. Had there been an accident while he was asleep? He had to know what happened. "Hel-" Iain tried to speak but was overcome by a rough coughing fit that sent a surge of pain through his chest. His throat felt like a desert, like he hadn't taken a drink in a week, and his chest! What was with this pain?

As the coughing subsided Iain looked around once again, his eyes lit up when he spotted a sink over on the other end of the room. But it was too far away to reach without disconnecting the machines hooked up to him. Looking down tentatively he slowly began taking off the suction pads attached to various parts of his arms and chest. At last it came to the two lines that had been injected into him, Iain had never been a fan of needles it didn't really matter if they were going in or out.

Gritting his teeth together Iain yanked on the lines pulling them from his body and causing the machine hooked up to him to come to life. The screen was flashing red flooding the dark room in a repetitive flash of crimson while an emergency alert blared like a claxon. Leaning over Iain punched in a few commands into the console turning off the alert. While the light may have been welcomed, if not a bit annoying, the loud alarm was definitely not going to fly.

Scooting his way to the end of the bed Iain placed his feet on the cold tiled floors which sent a shiver right up his spine. Bracing against the icy floor Iain stood up and almost toppled over. His legs felt so weak! How long had he been bedridden for? Pushing away those thoughts Iain set his sights on his prize and began his shaky walk to the sink.

The small trip to the sink was a lot harder than it should have been but Iain was no less pleased to reach his destination. Turning on the faucet a stream of water gushed out, with no cups around Iain stuck his head under the tap and lapped up the flowing liquid. It was lukewarm at best but damn did it feel good! After several minutes of drinking Iain finally felt like he had quenched his thirst and turned the tap off before turning to face the rest of the room again.

It had been over five minutes since he unplugged himself from the machines. Now Iain was no doctor but he watched enough medical shows to know that at the very least a nurse should have shown up to check on him by now. Walking over to the door to his room Iain was surprised that it didn't automatically slide open for him. Undeterred he tried pulling the door open but to no avail. "What the hell? Am I locked in here?" Iain asked himself, more to test out his voice than anything, while still raspy it no longer hurt to speak so that was a start.

Iain quickly began scouring the room in search of anything of use, he was completely out of his element but doing anything was better than sitting alone in the creepy room. Most of the drawers were empty save for one that held a small bible. "Yeah I'm gonna pray my way out of here" Iain snorted, throwing the book back into the drawer.

Turning around Iain's hope was rekindled upon noticing a nondescript set of doors, he hadn't noticed them at first as they matched the walls so well. Hurrying over Iain slid them back to reveal a closet full of clothing that had been left behind. Looking down at himself Iain suddenly felt very self-conscious in the gown that he'd been draped in. After a quick search Iain pulled out a pair of navy blue boxers, plain white socks, old fashioned denim jeans and a black shirt with red sleeves.

Stripping away the gown Iain had the first real look at his body since awakening as he stepped in front of the mirror set above the sink. At first glance everything appeared to be in order, his short sandy brown hair was the same length as he remembered, though it was in desperate need of a wash. His eyes, while somewhat bloodshot, were their usual blue. His face was still as devilishly handsome as ever though his skin did look somewhat clammy. As he checked over the rest of his body his gaze fell to his now bare chest and what he saw made his stomach lurch uncomfortably at the sight.

Starting from his collarbone and stretching all the way down to his bellybutton was a single uniform scar. The mark was still rather pink so must have been rather fresh and it was perfectly straight as if made with a precision instrument, thinking more about his current situation Iain was certain it was. Taking a chance Iain gently poked the mark sending a sharp jolt of pain through his body that almost brought him to his knees.

"Well that explains why my chest feels like an elephant sat on it" Iain muttered as he straightened himself once more. Iain hoped that once he got out of this room he'd be able to find someone who could fill him on what had happened to him. Until then though Iain decided to slip on the rest of his clothes he had procured, his new shirt was first to go on so as to cover up the disfigurement. After slipping on the pair of socks Iain popped his head back into the closet once more and as luck would have it he found what he was looking for. A pair of brand new running shoes sat at the back of the closet.

"Not a fan of the green but they're my size so to hell with it" Iain murmured to himself as he laced up his new runners. While he was quite happy to be properly clothed once more Iain couldn't help but feel a little discouraged, there hadn't been anything of use in the closet apart from clothing and there still hadn't been a single person to come check on him. In fact apart from the ruckus he had made in the closet there hadn't been a single noise since he woke up.

Again resorting to scanning the room for anything of use his gaze fell to one of the machines that had been hooked up to him. They were still on, giving off a pale green light which lit up Iain's face as he came to a halt in front of it. Everything he tried to access on the console seemed to be locked or password protected shutting him out at every turn. He had almost completely given up on the system until he came across a single folder marked Iain MacRury MPP-001.

"Please don't be locked, please don't be locked please… YES!" Iain exclaimed loudly irritating his still somewhat sore throat. He could talk but he might want to lay off on shouting for the time being. Iain quickly scanned over the contents of his page and it only provided more questions than answers.

MAXIMUM PRIORITY PATIENT-001 UNDER CARE OF WEYLAND-YUTANI MEDICAL TREATMENT CENTER

TIME OF LAST LOGIN: 15:38 2266-10-23

PATIENT NAME: IAIN R. MACRURY

DATE OF BIRTH: 2243-05-27

OCCUPATION: INTERSTELLAR FREIGHT TRAFFICKER FOR WEYLAND-YUTANI SUBSIDIARY SCHNEIDER TRANSPORATION

REASON FOR OCCUPANCY: -REDACTED-

OFFICIAL STATUS: DECEASED

CAUSE OF DEATH: -REDACTED-

NEXT OF KIN HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED AND WILL BE COMPENSATED FOR THEIR LOSS. PATIENT HAS SHOWN SURPRISING RESILLIANCY FOLLOWING –-REDACTED-. STATION DIRECTOR MICHAEL J. BLANCHETTE HAS REQUESTED THAT PATIENT BE KEPT ALIVE AT ALL COSTS IN CASE OF –-REDACTED-. SEVERAL CLOSE CALLS AFTER -REDACTED-. PATIENT HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO PRIVATE ROOM 426 FOR 24/7 SUPERVISION. UPON PATIENT'S RECOVERY HE IS TO BE IMMEDIATELY DETAINED FOR FURTHER STUDY.

"Official status deceased? Nuts to that!" Iain sputtered in disbelief at what he was reading. Aside from the shock of being listed as a dead man, Iain couldn't believe what he was reading. Or rather what he wasn't, as it looked like any important information had been removed from the system.

"Upon patient's recovery he is to be immediately detained for further study" Iain read through the notes one more time. "Well, I've been up for like fifteen minutes so where is everyone?!" Iain called out hoping someone might have overheard him. As another minute passed with no response Iain felt himself growing antsy, what if no one ever came for him? What if they did only to have him killed? What if he was stuck in that room forever? Ridiculous thoughts of course but Iain felt like he was in a ridiculous situation.

Just as Iain started to pace around the room a loud cracking noise followed by a long hiss broke the silence catching his attention. Stunned by the sudden noise Iain spun around to face the source of the sound, the pressurized door had just been opened. Inching his way closer to the entrance Iain found that the door, the magnetically sealed and pressurized door, seemed to have been forced open just a crack. The metal halfway up the frame seemed to have been bent inwards, it was like someone had wedged something between the doors and pried them open by force, but that should have been impossible.

Peeking through the crack Iain could see into the hallway beyond the door. The only lights he could make out were the spinning orange emergency lights that coated the hallways with an eerie orange glow. "Alright Iain time to make a choice, stay in the creepy room with no one around, or head out into the creepy hallway… with no one around?" Iain grumbled to himself. He stood crouched at the door for what felt like an eternity before finally coming to a decision. "Well let's get this over with" Iain sighed as he braced against the entryway. Using the leverage of the wall at his back Iain pushed the sliding door open fully revealing the hallway outside his room.

Just as he thought the main lights in either direction were off, the only light as far as the eye could see was emanating from the emergency lights. Gathering up his courage Iain strode out into the deserted hallway as quietly as he could. Deciding to go right Iain began to creep through the silent hallway passing several rooms along the way. Most of them looked like they had never been used but quite a few looked like they had recent occupants, they all had one thing in common though, they were all empty.

Coming to another branching path Iain looked around hopelessly, both ways just looked like more of the same, empty hallways with no indicators of which way was which. "Hello!" Iain called out into the darkness his voice echoing eerily off the walls of the deserted corridors. Regretting his choice almost immediately Iain refrained from calling out again, everything about this situation felt wrong. He had watched enough horror movies to know that shouting into the darkness was a quick way to wind up dead.

"Ok stay calm, stay quiet… but where the fuck am I?" Iain hissed angrily as he pressed his back against the wall. As if in response to his question the wall he had leant up against flashed blue causing Iain to leap away in fright.

"Welcome to the Weyland-Yutani research station Hyperion, MPP-001, how may I be of assistance?" A cool feminine voice asked from the speakers next to the screen.

"Damn VI nearly scared the shit out of me" Iain chuckled as he looked up at the screen before him. "Where did you say I was?" Iain asked the console that displayed the layout of a large building.

"You are currently on the fourth floor of the Asclepius Medical Treatment Center" the voice responded calmly.

"Ok but I mean where is here? You said I'm on a research station" Iain pressed. Virtual intelligences were not quite as sophisticated as androids, so you had to be very specific when dealing with them.

"That is correct MPP-001, the Asclepius Medical Treatment Center is located on the Weyland-Yutani research station Hyperion" the voice responded.

"Cool and where is that? What sector are we in?" Iain asked hurriedly, something about being out in the open like this had his skin crawling in the worst way.

"I am afraid that information is classified by order of Station Director Michael J. Blanchette" the VI stated in the same monotone drawl.

"Fantastic, where is he?" Iain questioned the VI.

"I am afraid that information is classified by order of Station Director Michael J. Blanchette" the VI repeated.

"Lovely, guess you can't tell me what this place was researching either?" Iain asked, quickly losing all hope he had upon coming across the VI.

"I am afraid that information is classified by order of-" the VI began before Iain cut it off with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah I get it, classified, can you at least show me how to get out of this facility?" Iain sighed not expecting anything different from before.

"Of course, displaying layout of the Asclepius Medical Treatment Center now" the voice stated. Perhaps it was Iain's imagination but this time the voice of the VI seemed to be a bit more enthusiastic than before. Waving it off Iain stepped closer to the screen and looked at the layout.

"Of course I'm on the top floor, guess that means it's all downhill from here right?" Iain chuckled at his own attempt at humour.

"Correct, if you are looking to leave the facility the only way to proceed would be downwards" the VI replied with a slight inflection in its voice leaving Iain in stunned silence.

Shaking away his surprise at the VI's retort Iain felt a grin spread across his face. "Can't believe I'm getting sassed by a VI, can you tell me where the nearest person is?" Iain asked before continuing hurriedly "and don't you say it's me!"

"Unfortunately station wide scanners appear to be under maintenance I am unable to access current statistics" the VI responded solemnly. He hadn't expected it but at least it was a better answer than classified. As if in response to his discouragement the VI spoke up once more "I can however tell you there were four hundred and eighty-four occupants aboard the station prior to this unscheduled maintenance period."

"Thanks, I better get going" Iain replied sombrely as he made one last attempt to memorize the map in front of him. When he finally thought he had a pretty good grasp of how to proceed he felt a weight in his stomach at the prospect of continuing on. Iain didn't really like having to leave the first person he had come across since waking up, even if it was a VI.

But he knew he had to, standing around would accomplish nothing and so turning down the corridor on the left he began heading down the path that would hopefully lead him out of the hospital. Just as Iain began walking away the VI spoke up once more "good luck Mr. MacRury."

Turning around in surprise Iain nodded his head in recognition before continuing on his way. His trip through the medical center's fourth floor went smoothly enough he still had yet to hear any other sounds apart from his own footsteps and breathing. "Quiet as a damn tomb in here" Iain murmured taking another left-hand turn. Iain's eyes lit up with joy at seeing what was at the far end of the hallway.

There at the end were the doors to the elevator and stairwell, both of them illuminated by the orange emergency light above them. Forgetting his earlier apprehension Iain rushed forward as quickly as his still wobbly legs would allow him. Halfway down the hall Iain passed by a room and failed to notice the shifting shadow inside of it however the distinct sound of shattering glass brought him to a sudden halt.

The sound had definitely come from the room on his left and so in a surprising show of bravery, or stupidity, Iain inched his way closer to the door to see what had caused the commotion. As he got closer Iain saw the door had been left ajar and so upon reaching the entryway, and taking a deep breath, decided to take a quick peak in.

Nothing, the room was completely empty, there wasn't a single person in it however the bed did look like it had been used fairly recently. Taking a few tentative steps inside the room Iain was startled by the sound of cracking glass. Looking down he saw the previous source of the commotion, it was just a glass vase that had fallen over. Chuckling to himself, Iain left the room with a sigh "this place is starting to get to me." Deciding to take a slower pace Iain once again crept through the rest of the hallway. Arriving at the elevators and stairwell Iain breathed a pent up sigh of relief, it felt like he had just run a marathon.

"Should I even try the elevator?" Iain asked himself not really expecting such services to be available when the whole building seemed to be on emergency generators. "Meh, why not?" Iain gave in pressing the button to call one up. Unsurprisingly there was no response, not even the sound of machinery attempting to start up. "Guess that means more walking, wonder-" Iain had been taking a step backwards when he felt his foot land in something with a soft splash.

In hindsight Iain felt he really should have picked up on the coppery scent in the air right away. After all that was a massive puddle of blood he just stepped into. Looking around frantically Iain saw that the pool of blood stretched off into a trail, one that seemed to lead directly into the closed elevator doors. Suddenly the broken vase in the other room jumped into Iain's thoughts as his mind raced, something had to have knocked it over. Feeling far more vulnerable than he had just a minute before Iain wrenched the door to the stairwell open before rushing downstairs, he wanted to put as much distance between himself and that floor as he could.

Iain was in luck as the stairwell took him all the way down to ground floor of the medical center. Each floor number he passed managed to alleviate some of his built up anxiety, he felt like he was making real headway. Stopping beside the door to the first floor Iain pressed his back against the wall as he gasped for breath. The combination of practically sprinting down four flights of stairs, the pain in his chest and his still sore legs left him in desperate need of rest.

Taking this time to sneak a peek through the window of the door Iain attempted to spot anything on the other side. He was disheartened to not only see no signs of people but it also looked to be even darker on the first floor than the fourth. "This is all just some sick prank show I know it" Iain grumbled as he pulled the door open and stepped into yet another deserted hallway. "Any second now I'm gonna have some washed up B-list celebrity pop around a corner saying 'It's just a prank bro' and when he does I'm gonna deck his ass."

Iain continued on his trek through the seemingly abandoned medical facility in eerie silence. As he crept forward he thought back to the map the VI had shown him. If he had followed it like he was supposed to then he just needed to take the next right hand turn and then follow that with a left hand turn after passing a set of bathrooms. If at some point he had made a mistake in his recollection then… well he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

After several tense minutes Iain turned passed the set of bathrooms and found himself standing in the main reception area to the medical center. Just like the rest of the compound though there was no one around. What should have been the busiest area in the center was completely devoid of life, however there were definitely people here at some point. The place was a disaster, wheelchairs overturned, clothing strewn about the floor as if just discarded but the most unsettling sight was the blood.

Dried bloodstains littered the reception area marring the once pristine walls. Looking closer at the markings Iain's gaze fell on several of the seats in the waiting area. Many of the cushions looked to have been soaked in blood while others sported enormous tears as if made with a large knife. Iain's shocked gaze gradually turned to the walls around him, there were similar markings along them as well, there were also massive dents in the frame that looked like they had been punched in with a pneumatic nailer.

"What the hell happened here?" Iain whispered to himself. There was clearly a struggle of some kind and apart from the copious amounts of dried blood there wasn't the faintest sign of a person around. Deciding it would be best to simply keep moving Iain began heading for the exit.

A loud clatter off to his left brought Iain to a screeching halt. Whipping his head over to spot the disturbance he couldn't see anything at first. The hallway the sound came from looked just like the rest, dark with only the spinning orange emergency lights providing any source of light. As Iain approached he slowly scanned the area, everything seemed fine, or as fine as things could get in a bloodstained abandoned hospital. In fact there wasn't anything in the hallway itself beside a small cart laden with books and an overturned gurney… with a quivering shoe sticking out from behind it.

"You can come out, I'm not gonna bite" Iain chuckled as he approached the gurney.

No sooner had Iain said those words than the person bolted from their temporary cover sprinting down the hallway away from the exit. Against his better judgement Iain ran after the person, maybe it was because they seemed scared, maybe it was because he wanted answers but mostly it was because it was the first real person Iain had come across since waking up.

Iain stayed hot on the person's tail never letting up his own pace despite his strained lungs crying out in protest. The pair sprinted through the corridors at a breakneck pace and just when it felt like Iain's legs were about to give out on him he turned a corner and came to dead end. The person he had been chasing was huddled in the corner shaking violently and was doing their best to obscure their face.

"If you could stop running now that would be great, kinda not at one hundred percent here" Iain gasped as he hunched over trying to catch his breath. Upon hearing his voice the huddled person slowly lowered their arms revealing their face. It was a woman, a pretty one at that, though she looked she had been through hell. Her long black hair was matted and dirty as if it hadn't been washed in a week, her skin looked clammy and her dark brown eyes had enormous bags underneath them, a testament to what little rest the woman must have been getting. She wore a long white lab coat that was coated in dirt and torn in several places. Pinned to the left side of the coat was a bronze nametag with the name Desiree SN printed on it. "So you're a nurse here?" Iain said more to himself than to the distant woman before him.

The whole time the woman had been completely silent and never once made eye contact with him she was definitely aware of his presence as when he took a step closer she immediately huddled back up. Taking a chance Iain tried addressing the woman by her name hoping to break the woman out of her reverie. "Hey… um Desiree? Are you ok?" Iain asked taking another tentative step towards her.

At the mention of her name Desiree's eyes locked with Iain's and he could see the abject terror in them, clearly she was not ok. Without any warning the woman leapt from her huddled position and rushed Iain with a manic expression. Iain was so taken aback he didn't react until she was already upon him. She hastily grabbed hold of either side of his face and started taking in every detail of him all while mumbling incoherently to herself.

Despite being literal inches from her Iain couldn't make out what the hysterical woman was mumbling to herself. He could however smell her and much like her hair had indicated previously it was clear that bathing had not been on her priorities for quite some time. "Hey look I'm all for meeting new people but this is a little close, don't you think?" Iain said as the woman squished his face in her hands. "I guess I know your name already so… my name's Iain" Iain said from between the woman's hands.

Hoping that small talk might help calm the woman down Iain was dismayed when all it seemed to do was make matters worse. "Iain!" Desiree shouted, her breathing becoming even more erratic, she was now sweating profusely and her mumblings had evolved into a full blown vocal break down. "Can't be! But he's right there! But how?! All my fault, it's coming for me, all my fault! We're all going to die because of me!" Desiree was now in full hysterics, she collapsed in a sobbing heap all the while her gaze darted around the empty hallway frantically.

"I was not ready for today" Iain groaned as he took a tentative step towards the dishevelled woman. "Hey Desiree just calm down everything's going to be alright, can you tell me what happened to this place?" Iain probed hoping to get something out of the raving woman while he could. The sound of Iain's voice seemed to return Desiree to some form of normalcy, she stopped shouting, which was a good start and the small incline of her head told Iain she was listening.

"It's all my fault" Desiree whimpered, tears now flowing freely from her dark brown eyes. Iain couldn't place it but he could have sworn he heard her voice somewhere before, but this was the first time he had ever met her.

"What's your fault? Maybe if you tell me I can help fix it?" Iain pressed taking another step forward. He was now only a foot away from Desiree who had risen from her sprawled out position to a seated one. Taking a chance Iain tried placing a comforting hand on her shoulder to help calm her nerves but the moment his hand came into contact with her shoulder she bolted upright in a surprising burst of speed.

"Get back!" She screeched throwing a punch that connected with the middle of Iain's chest.

Iain immediately collapsed in a pile as a terrible pain shot through his body. His chest was on fire, his vision had distorted into a blurred mess and somehow that one punch had knocked all the air out of him. Iain gasped in pain trying to regulate his breathing, he wasn't sure how long it would take but he was positive that, when his vision refocused, Desiree would be long gone.

Once his vision had fully cleared Iain hesitantly looked up and was surprised to see Desiree still there however she looked even more terrified than ever before. Iain tried making a snappy remark but his still damaged lungs were having none of it and instead all that came out was a weak squeak.

"It's coming, it's coming, it's coming" Desiree whimpered, her head swinging wildly from one side to the other. Once again Iain tried to talk to the girl but he just couldn't seem to catch his breath, seriously what the hell happened to him? He thought as the girl in front of him began to back up against the wall to his left.

Iain tried to tell her to be careful, she was getting awfully close to the open maintenance hatch embedded in the side but again no words would come out. Instead Iain settled for getting to his feet to try and get the girl's attention. She may have been completely out of her mind but she was still the first real person he had come across since waking up, he couldn't just leave her.

Desiree was now fully pressed up against the wall, her eyes darting from left to right frantically. Sweat was running from her brow in rivers and her whole body was violently shaking. All the while she never relented with her panicked mantra "It's coming, it's coming, it's coming."

Iain tried waving to get her attention and Desiree suddenly stopped her frantic whisperings she had even stopped her eyes from moving back and forth. Thinking he had succeeded in obtaining the woman's attention Iain pointed down to the open maintenance hatch and what he saw made every hair on his body stand on end.

Locked around Desiree's right ankle was a long clawed hand. Six long fingers all as black as midnight and each tipped with a razor sharp talon. Iain slowly lifted his head to look at Desiree who was silently whimpering as tears streamed down her cheeks. Iain tried to move for her but as soon as he took his first step forward Desiree was dragged to the ground with a startled gasp. Most of her body was now inside the crawlspace but she had managed to grab hold of a safety handle and was holding onto it with every ounce of strength she could muster. She cried out in pain as whatever it was tried to pull her further into the crawlspace.

Finding his voice Iain called to the woman in a panic "hold on Desiree I got you!" Iain dropped to his knees and grabbed hold of her arms and tried his best to pull her towards him but she wouldn't budge. A sickening crunch emanated from the crawlspace as Desiree cried out in agony once more, blood was now flowing from her mouth and Iain could see her grip slacking. "No don't you let go damn it!" Iain shouted to no avail.

Locking her eyes with his own once more, Desiree blinked away the tears that had been building in her eyes. For the first time since they met she seemed to truly see Iain before her. With a shaky smile Desiree let go of the safety railing "I'm so sorry" she whispered. With a sudden tug of ungodly force Desiree was pulled into the open crawlspace and into pitch black darkness leaving Iain on the floor on all fours staring dumbstruck into the darkness.

In utter shock Iain slowly reached into the crawlspace, she was just there a second ago how could she just be gone? Iain was snapped out of his shock by the sound of a menacing hiss coming from the darkness before him. Whatever it was that took Desiree was still in there!

Getting to his feet Iain backed away from the opening never breaking eye contact with it until he heard a second hiss that snapped him back to reality. Breaking into a full sprint Iain bolted as fast as his tired legs would let him. He was running completely on autopilot at this point his legs seemed to know where they were going so he just let them take the lead.

He soon found himself sprinting through the reception area to the medical facility, how he found his way back to that spot he would never know. Without missing a beat Iain ran through the entrance his lungs screaming for rest but his mind urging him onward. Just as Iain thought he had put enough distance between himself and whatever the thing that grabbed Desiree was he heard a long drawn out screech that froze the very blood in his veins. It sounded very far off but it was difficult to tell as the sound reverberated off the steel walls of the corridor. With another burst of speed Iain pushed onward, gritting his teeth together as the pain in his chest screamed in agony.

Clearly he wasn't as alone as he had first thought.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone out there I hope you've enjoyed chapter 1 of my 5 chapter mini story as I had a lot of fun writing it. I've always been a fan of the Alien franchise and I just recently marathoned them all with my friend Iain who had never watched them before, we followed it with a playthrough of Alien Isolation. At some point we got to talking about if we were trapped on a station like Sevastopol with a Xenomorph on it would we survive? In any case he's wrong and he would totally wind up as Xeno chow. But that got me thinking and the idea for this story came to me and it was too good for me to pass up.**

 **So there will be four more chapters on the way, it may take some time as I'm currently juggling school, work and another story but I have the whole groundwork laid out all I need to do is write it. Once again hoped you liked chapter 1 stay on the lookout for the others and hit me up if you have questions or just want to talk.**

 **Until next time everyone!**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Small Hope

**Chapter 2: A Small Hope**

Iain's body couldn't keep going, after sprinting from the medical facility in a frenzied rush he was finally at the end of his already hampered physical limits. He had lost all feeling in his legs, his breathing was coming out as a ragged gasp, his heart felt like it had been lodged firmly in his throat and to top it all off his chest felt like it was about to rip in half. Despite all that pain he had kept running, the fear of whatever that _thing_ was that took Desiree outweighing the significant strain his body was under. But adrenaline and fear could only take him so far and so with a violent gasp Iain darted left into an open doorway collapsing on the hard steel floor.

Gasping for air Iain lied on the ground waiting for the moment when the creature that took Desiree would come for him. As the minutes passed and his breathing settled he realised that nothing had come to claim him. It was now completely silent save for his own heart, which sounded like it was about to burst out of his chest.

Slowly opening his eyes that he had kept scrunched together in fear, Iain was met with almost complete darkness. Looking around Iain spotted the way he entered the darkened room, the doorway itself stood out due to the emergency lights in the hallway beyond but the room he was in was complete and utter blackness.

Miraculously finding strength in his worn out legs Iain got to his feet, though he did almost lose his balance and topple over in the process. Looking around the worn out freighter pilot's eyes steadily adjusted to the darkness, bit by bit he began registering the details of the room. It looked like it was only half the size that his room in the medical facility had been. Wall to wall the confined space was filled with shelving units all of which were laden with various objects he couldn't make out in the darkness.

"Dark as dicks in here" Iain mumbled, his voice strained from his mad dash from the medical facility. Groping around in the darkness Iain hoped to find a source of light to illuminate his surroundings. After another minute of flailing in the dark Iain's hand brushed up against a switch which he promptly flicked more out of desperation than anything.

By no means was the light blinding but the single florescent bulb fixed to the ceiling was a welcome comfort from the darkness and dull orange emergency lights. It took a moment for Iain's eyesight to adjust to the new light and it took another moment for him to realise the room he had dived into. Wall to wall the shelving he had noticed on his first inspection looked to be lined with various tools and machines, most of which he had no clue what they did but they still provided a somewhat comforting presence.

"Well, a janitor's closet's not the worst place in the universe I guess" Iain chuckled humourlessly, he had stopped finding the situation amusing a long time ago. He still held hope that this was just a very elaborate prank show, but at this point it seemed pretty obvious this wasn't a joke.

As if in response to his thought a long drawn out screech echoed through the corridors. Iain's entire body tensed at the inhuman sound and he could feel his heart rate picking back up. Usually on a station like this the corridors were so crowded with people that sound was usually drowned out by the ambient noise of a few hundred people crammed together. But now with the hallways deserted sound had a tendency to echo off the metallic surfaces.

Pressing himself against the wall beside the doorway Iain quickly flicked off the light switch bathing himself in darkness once more and he waited. For a few tense minutes nothing happened and just as the freighter pilot began to think the coast was clear he heard it. A loud thumping that echoed through the halls that turned Iain's blood to ice. Iain waited in utter silence trying to keep his erratic heartbeat under control as the thumping drew closer. It sounded like it was approaching from the left side of the doorway and Iain wished in that moment he would have taken the time to close it.

As the thumping drew near Iain began holding his breath, the sound was so loud it sounded like it was right outside his door. Suddenly the rhythmic thumping stopped and Iain felt his heartrate skyrocket at the sudden silence that followed. The nerve racking seconds passed and Iain's legs felt like they were about to give out at any moment. Just when Iain felt like it might be safe to move once more a low hissing pierced the silence. At first Iain thought it was simply steam being released from a valve close by, just a harmless pressure release.

His hopes were quickly dashed as the hissing transitioned into a threatening growl, the animalistic noise was horrible, oozing with menace and hunger. Whatever it was that had grabbed Desiree had found him and any second now it would rush in and claim him as well. Not enjoying the idea of going down without a fight Iain slowly ran his hand along the tools closest to him. His hand gripped the handle of something metallic and he braced himself for what was about to come next.

Without warning the menacing growl intensified into a roaring shriek and whatever was in the hallway outside pounded down the corridor roaring at the top of its lungs. Petrified by the latest sound from his mystery creature Iain slowly dropped to his knees. In the distance he could just make out the echo of gunfire followed by the drawn out, horrified yell of a man before the universe was once again consumed by silence. The shocked freighter pilot barely registered the gunfire and the last sounds of a doomed man as what just happened began to sink in.

He hadn't even seen the damn thing and it had him completely terrified. It was, without doubt, the same creature from the medical facility but that just raised more questions for the terrified sandy haired pilot. Had it followed him out of the medical facility? Or were there more than one prowling through the station? What did it do to Desiree and whoever the poor soul was that it chased down? So many questions and Iain would have been happy to never get an answer for any of them.

"Damn thing sounded massive" Iain whispered to himself. Those echoing footsteps made it sound huge, heavier than any person Iain had ever come across. Then there were the sounds the creature made, the hissing, the growl, the screech all of them animalistic, predatory. Whatever that _thing_ was it was beyond dangerous and Iain wanted nothing to do with it. The problem was he had no way of knowing if the creature would come back or if it would move on to a different location.

 _Come on man you gotta nut up, can't stay hiding in a broom closet for the rest of your life._ The voice in Iain's head sounded far more self-assured than he felt. In truth he was completely terrified, nothing in his relatively quiet life had prepared him for this day, he was a freighter pilot who delivered supplies to fringe colonies, crap like this shouldn't be happening to him.

Steeling his resolve Iain quickly turned the light to his temporary hiding place back on, once again blinding himself with the sudden illumination. Once his vision had returned Iain began looking around, first thing he found was the controls to the door to his brief sanctuary. The door mercifully closed with only a small hiss giving Iain at least a marginal sense of protection.

Next Iain began scouring the shelves for anything of use. His eyes first fell upon the metal bar he had grasped earlier. The bar in question was actually a standard maintenance jack. On one side of the tool was a multipurpose wrench while the other side had a standard hammer with metal pick. It was completely standard issue save for the name Dave T. hastily engraved into the handle. "Sorry Dave but I think I can use this more than you can" Iain murmured as he hooked the large tool onto one of the belt loops on his jeans. In all honesty Iain wasn't too cut up about stealing, it may have sounded a tad corny but desperate times did indeed call for desperate measures.

Looking around Iain felt a growing sense of anxiety settle within him, there were quite a few tools but most of their functions were unknown to him. On top of that many of the machines he was looking at were far too heavy to carry and if that wasn't enough there wasn't a bag in sight to store anything. "So I got to get by with whatever I can cram into my pockets… lovely" Iain grumbled in irritation.

"There's so much crap around here but I can't use any of it!" Iain hissed trying to keep his voice down. "Dammit I'm a pilot not an engineer, I can't just MacGyver my way out of this" Iain groaned as he swiped a pair of flashlights sitting alone on the shelf along with a pack of batteries for said flashlights. With his pockets now almost completely full and nothing of note save for cleaning chemicals remaining, Iain had just enough room to grab a roll of electrical tape before turning to face the still sealed door.

"Alright it's just me, an oversized wrench, a couple flashlights, some tape and my wit… I'm so fucked" Iain sighed as he mentally prepped himself to open the door before him. _You can do this! What are the odds that you'll run into that thing a third time right?_ Somehow Iain's mind's attempt at rationalising the situation didn't help to alleviate his stress but it did give him the push he needed to hit the switch to the door.

Opening just as silently as it had closed Iain was once again greeted with the deserted hallway illuminated only by the slowly spinning emergency lights. It took all his resolve not to hit the switch again and go back to hiding in the janitor's room but after a minute of staring almost transfixed at the hallways beyond Iain took his first step forward. That first step was horrible and had every fiber of Iain's being screamed at him to turn back, the second wasn't much better and the third wasn't anything to write home about but once he started moving at a steady pace down the hall Iain felt each step becoming easier.

Using every ounce of finesse in his worn out body Iain crept through the darkened halls as quietly as he could. By no means was he a ninja, his footsteps echoed lightly off the walls of the deserted hallway traveling god knows how far. On two occasions he bumped into a wall with a resounding smack that almost stopped Iain's heart and at one point the maintenance jack at his waist bounced off a cart that generated a cacophony of metallic crashes. Despite those few moments Iain's walk was completely uneventful, no sign of whatever that _thing_ was… at the same time there was also no sign of anyone else… no physical signs at least.

Despite not seeing anyone Iain was positive he was being watched, it may very well have been his own paranoia but under the circumstances he felt as if it was justified. Twice he could have sworn he heard light footsteps echoing down a side passage, at one point he saw a dim light emanating from a room up ahead but as he approached the light it suddenly went out accompanied with the sound of shattering glass prompting Iain to turn on the spot and head down a new path. Apart from those two instances there was just a sense of general unease everywhere he went, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up and he had the sense of someone's gaze boring into him but every time he turned to check his back there was nothing but dimly lit, empty corridors.

After creeping through the deserted halls for what felt like an eternity Iain came to a large junction. It was a circular room that opened up into six different paths, including the one he just came through. "Shit" Iain sighed as he leant up against the blank wall beside him. "Five ways to go and not a damn map in this whole place" Iain pinched the bridge of his nose in exacerbation. As if on cue the wall Iain had leant up against glowed blue and gave a welcoming jingle as it came to life. Despite the distinctly non-threatening introduction Iain nearly jumped out of his skin in shock.

"Welcome to the Weyland-Yutani research station Hyperion, MPP-001, how may I be of assistance?" Said a familiar cool voice.

"Jesus! You scared the shit outta me" Iain exclaimed before remembering the situation he was in. "Can you turn down the volume a bit? Kinda want to keep quiet" Iain whispered to the glowing blue screen.

"Very well Mr. MacRury, audio volume has been decreased to minimum levels" the screen stated in a much quieter voice.

"Thanks, wait what are you even doing here I thought you were just a VI for that hospital?" Iain asked in a hushed voice as he looked back to make sure nothing was coming down the hall behind him.

"It appears you were under a false assumption, I am not a simple VI. I am a Station-wide Assisted Living Intelligence, you may call me SALI for short" the waveform on the screen representing SALI's voice waivered as it spoke giving it a more organic feel.

"So you're actually an AI?" Iain asked hesitantly, sophisticated AI's were generally given a synthetic body they tended to prefer the freedom of movement.

"That is affirmative, my programming has been modified to adjust to being used as a station-wide intelligence. Whereas I was once constrained to my physical body I am now spread out across most of Hyperion" SALI responded coolly.

Iain was taken aback by this revelation. Standard AI's weren't that uncommon and tended to run space stations like this all the time, but from what SALI had just told him it sounded like she once had a synthetic body of her own and they essentially ripped her mind from her body, warped it and shoved it into the station to run things.

"So you went from having your own body to being spread through this whole station?" Iain asked. The whole situation, while bordering on very unethical, was interesting to say the least. If SALI really was spread through the whole station and was constantly monitoring it would explain why he felt like he was being watched earlier.

"Almost, my programming has been situated to the recreational, residential and standard business areas. My primary function was to act as an assistant to the residents of Hyperion and make day to day activities more manageable" SALI stated with a hint of pride in her voice. "However there are several locations across the station that are designated classified and therefor I have been given no access to them" SALI continued keeping her voice low as per Iain's request.

"Cool I don't care about those places I just want off this tub, do you think you can help with that?" Iain grinned at his luck. He had no business being here, hell he still didn't know how he had arrived in the first place. Heading into classified or restricted areas of a Weyland-Yutani research station was not high on his list of priorities.

"That may be difficult, Station Director Michael J. Blanchette has issued a no fly order and had all hangar doors sealed and escape pods jettisoned" SALI replied sounding somewhat disheartened.

"So there's no way off?" Iain asked dejectedly.

"Well there is, if you are able to open the doors to the hangar and commandeer a spacecraft you should have no trouble leaving Hyperion" SALI replied.

"What about the no fly order?" Iain pressed.

"The no fly order was only a designation by the Station Director there are no physical restraints keeping spacecraft grounded" SALI stated as her screen transitioned to showing displays of the various hangar bays spread across the station.

"So there's six of them" Iain said leaning in closer to inspect each one. With only the angle of the camera feed to go off of Iain could see that there were several ships docked ranging from short range fighters to bulky freight transports. Looking at the larger transports reminded Iain of his own ship which didn't appear to be in any of the hangars.

"Hey SALI, do you know what happened with my ship?" Iain asked the AI eagerly.

"I do apologize but as far as I can tell your ship, The Xiao-Long, never made it to the station. It appears that you were brought aboard via a long range freighter, The Winchester, which is currently docked in hangar four" SALI reported back crushing Iain's hopes at seeing his beloved ship again.

"Damn it" Iain sighed dejectedly. Looking back to the AI before him Iain was reminded of the whole reason he wanted off the station in the first place. "SALI, there's a creature on the station I think it's the thing responsible for this whole place going to shit, do you know anything about it?" Iain asked hurriedly double checking over his shoulder again, he could have sworn he heard something earlier but there was nothing.

"Currently I have no access to scans of the station but I did detect an unknown life form just prior to most systems going dark" SALI stated before pausing for several seconds. "It also appears that I have large gaps in video footage across the station, what I do have though depicts no signs of the unknown life form" SALI replied. Iain thought he could detect a hint of sadness in her voice, it was always difficult to pick up on these things with AIs.

Nodding at her response Iain thought about this whole mess. While yes chances were he was screwed but now he at least had a shot if not a half-assed plan, all he had to do was get to a hangar open the airlock doors, hop in a ship and get the hell off this godforsaken station. "Alright SALI can-"

 _*Click*_

Iain's blood ran cold at the sharp noise coming from behind him he knew the sound of a gun when he heard it, cursing his negligence Iain stood perfectly still his hand slipping down to the maintenance jack at his waist. "If I were you I'd put your hands up where I can see them bub" a gravelly voice growled behind the freighter pilot. Slowly lifting his hands into the air above his head Iain made sure to turn around deliberately so as to not startle this new arrival.

Turning around brought him face to muzzle with a rusty revolver aimed right between his eyes. Deliberately glancing to the side of the weapon Iain spotted its wielder. Over six feet tall, with dark matted hair, a full length beard that looked like it hadn't been trimmed in weeks and deep sunken eyes the man standing before him was a gaunt shell of what he must have been at one point.

The seconds stretched by as both men stared each other down, Iain's heart was pounding in his chest like a jackhammer, he'd never looked down the barrel of a gun before much less had one pointed directly at his face. Taking a chance Iain tried addressing the dangerous man "hey there… would you mind putting the gun down?"

"No" the man's response was immediate and his gravelly voice made it perfectly clear that it wasn't up for negotiations. Before Iain could open his mouth to reply the man took a sudden step forward startling the freighter pilot with the sudden advance. "I'm gonna keep this gun right here, and you're going to answer each and every one of my questions bub" the gunman growled in Iain's face giving him a good whiff of the filthy man's breath.

"Ok fine just… can you not breathe on me you really stink" Iain gasped for air.

"You try staying alive in this hell hole for weeks on end, bet you wouldn't smell like roses either, which brings me to my first question" the man growled taking a small step back. "Who are you? I knew almost everyone on this scrap heap and I ain't never seen you before" he growled his gun never leaving Iain's face.

"The name's Iain, Iain MacRury I'm a freighter pilot" Iain said hastily not wanting to test the man's trigger finger.

"Alright Iain good start now tell me how the hell were you speaking to that damn AI?" The man demanded pointing to SALI with his free hand.

"I-I just spoke to her what do you mean?" Iain stammered trying to figure out what the man's intentions were.

"Bullshit, that damn AI hasn't spoken to a damn soul since everything went tits up" the gunman growled taking another step closer to Iain who backed up in response.

"I'm telling you she just spoke to me when I asked where I was, look I don't know what's going on here I just woke up like two hours ago" Iain said as fast as he could. He already got punched by one of the residents when they got hysterical he didn't need to get shot by another one.

The gunman's eyes narrowed dangerously as he took another step closer. As he approached, the pale blue light emanating from SALI illuminated his blood stained jacket revealing the name Russel stitched into his left shoulder. Noticing Iain's eyes fix on his name Russel gave him a dirty smirk revealing the yellowed teeth he had kept hidden from before. "Yeah the name's Russel" he said before turning his attention back to SALI. "Alright SALI you feel like talking to me?" Russel asked with a small grunt.

As the seconds passed and SALI gave no response Iain could feel the beads of sweat make their way down his face. Why wasn't SALI speaking to him, sure he wasn't exactly a pleasant guy but she didn't even cut him off or tell him she wouldn't speak to him. Looking back to the glowing screen Iain cleared his throat hoping that SALI hadn't simply glitched out on them.

"Hey…umm SALI what's with the silent treatment?" Iain asked nervously feeling Russel's heavily lidded eyes fall back on him.

"I apologize Mr. MacRury but just before most of the systems aboard Hyperion went down Station Director Michael J. Blanchette gave me an order to cease all communication with all residents, faculty as well as anyone else living aboard Hyperion" SALI stated once again sounding depressed by her orders.

"Ok so you've been ordered not to speak to anyone but how are you able to speak to me?" Iain asked hoping this answer would alleviate Russel's scrutiny.

"Normally it would be because you are not an actual Weyland-Yutani resident or employee, however the Director's order was quite specific to anyone living aboard the station meaning I should not be able to speak to you" SALI stated leaving Iain wondering where she was going with her explanation. "However…" this got both men's attention before SALI continued "due to your official status as being deceased I had come to the conclusion that you were not technically 'living' aboard the station and therefore deemed it acceptable to speak to you" SALI stated with a small hint of amusement in her synthesized voice.

"So you found a loop hole in your programming and decided to speak to me?" Iain asked, shocked that an AI he had never met would go to such lengths.

"That is correct… It has been a long time since I've been able to speak to anyone… these halls have become quite lonely" SALI stated dejectedly. Iain had to keep reminding himself that SALI was a full-fledged AI and not a run of the mill VI. Her personality was almost completely like that of a real person she was basically a synthetic that had been forcibly crammed into the station.

"Yeah yeah the glorified GPS is lonely whatever, ask her how we get out of here!" Russel hissed jabbing Iain with the muzzle of his pistol angrily. Iain noticed his eyes were darting left to right madly, clearly he was just as on edge as he was, if not more.

"She already told me all the escape pods were launched and the hangars have been closed down" Iain said with a shrug.

"I heard about the no fly order already, but the doors are just closed right? We get those open and we can fly a ship right out of here right?" Russel pressed, a small glint in his eye and the growing smile put Iain on edge, clearly this guy wasn't all there.

"Well you're right but what's with this 'we' crap?" Iain scowled as Russel smile broke into a dark grin.

"Ain't it obvious? I need to get off this hunk of junk and you said you're a pilot" Russel continued pressing his muzzle up against Iain's chest. "The way I see it we're partners from here on out" Russel chuckled as he looked back to SALI. "Now ask her if she can send out any SOS signals" he demanded waving his pistol from Iain to SALI.

"Right…" Iain replied woodenly before turning around to face SALI. "I assume you heard that?" Iain asked the AI.

"Affirmative Mr. MacRury, unfortunately I am unable to send out any forms of communication it was one of the many orders the Station Director provided to me" SALI replied coolly. Iain could just make hear Russel cursing under his breath behind him as well as the small rattle of the pistol he was carrying, no doubt still pointed at his back.

"Thanks anyways SALI I know your hands are kinda tied" Iain sighed, he was going to turn back around when SALI's screen suddenly flashed catching both human's attention.

"I believe I have found another loop hole for you Mr. MacRury" SALI stated excitedly. "I may not be allowed to release communications but you can. I have just released the locks for the communications sector where you can send out a signal manually" SALI stated proudly, the AI seemed to take great joy in finding ways around her own restrictive programming. "I couldn't release the locks for anyone aboard the station however, much like my ability to speak to you, you are not technically on the station" the AI stated slyly.

"Right I'm dead" Iain chuckled darkly at the thought.

"Fan-tucking-fastic" Russel declared before smashing SALI's screen with the butt of his pistol plunging the pair back into the darkness of the barely lit facility.

"Are you fucking insane!" Iain hissed before Russel turned around to train his gun back to the freighter pilot's face. "Woah ok calm down man, remember what you said, partners right?" Iain said taking a small step back.

"Yeah that's right… partners" Russel grunted as he eyed up Iain. "That AI's Weyland-Yutani property, they're responsible for this whole damn mess, you want to trust their shit then good for you it's your funeral" Russel growled giving Iain a shove towards the hallway over to their right.

"Alright what's your problem?" Iain glowered at the gunman as he walked up to him. Why Iain felt the need to challenge the gun toting, possibly unstable, man was well beyond him. This whole situation had him on edge as it was and Russel's abrasive attitude just ate away at Iain and brought forth his confrontational side.

"My problem is I want to live through this shit, I got a wife and kid back home and I'll be damned if I let some pansy ass freighter pilot get in my way, now get moving!" Russel growled jabbing his gun into the small of Iain's back again forcing him further down the darkened corridor.

"Look asshole, do you mind telling me what's going on? Like where are we going?" Iain asked doing his best to keep his voice low.

"We're heading to comms, it's on the way to one of the hangars, so if the ships don't work or the doors are sealed and we can't open them then we can at least get a damn signal out for someone to rescue us" Russel growled as they crept through the darkened corridors.

Rather than argue further Iain decided to keep quiet and keep going in silence. As the minutes dragged on Iain could have sworn he heard a small scratching noise coming from behind them but every time he looked back all he saw was Russel with his gun still trained on Iain's back. Whenever they would come to a branching path in the corridors Russel would always thrust Iain down the correct path. The first time this happened Iain was able to shrug it off, the second got under his skin and by the third he was about ready to spin around and clock Russel with his maintenance jack, gun be damned.

Several times Russel would come to a sudden halt and strained his ears for a noise he thought he heard, but every time he did there was nothing around. Iain would have called him paranoid but the freighter pilot was just as on edge keeping his ears peeled for the tiniest out of place sound. As the minutes stretched into an hour Iain looked back to see Russel still behind him with the same haunted look as that he always had. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Iain asked as they passed by a bloodstained wall.

"Positive we just have a bit more to go then we can head to the hangar, with the trams down we don't exactly have a choice" Russel grunted as he took a hasty look behind him.

"Have you seen it?" Iain asked trying to keep the conversation going, Russel wasn't exactly the best company but he was better than nothing.

"Yeah… yeah I've seen it" Russel whispered, his eyes glazing over as he ran his hand through his dishevelled hair.

"Care to share?" Iain asked glancing back towards the withdrawn gunman. Clearly it was a sore subject for the guy but Iain needed to know as much as he could about what they were dealing with, SALI had next to no information and he still hadn't actually seen the thing yet. Then again Iain could live with never seeing the creature if he could make it off the station in one piece.

"It's a fucking monster, what more do you want?" Russel hissed, phlegm spouting from his mouth. Iain didn't think it was possible but his request seemed to have agitated Russel even further than before.

"Look I just want to know as much about what we're dealing with as I can so we can make it the hell out of this place" Iain replied angrily, his voice echoing off the metallic walls. Lowering his voice once more Iain addressed the man to his rear with a frown "so you gonna tell me what this thing is or what?"

"Fine just keep your yap shut bub" Russel muttered also trying to keep his voice as low as possible. He took a few seconds to compose himself, during that time he signaled for Iain to take a right turn and wiped his brow with the hem of his jacket. The man was a mess and all he was doing was remembering what he saw. "Me and my buddy were holed up with a bunch of other survivors in the hydroponics section of the station. Seemed like a good idea there was only one way in and we could just grow any of the food we needed" Russel said double checking his pistol in the process, Iain noticed he had a habit of doing it, almost like a nervous tick.

"We lasted about a week, had no clue what was going on outside but everything was going well enough for us, all we knew was that there was something out there and it was killing people" Russel continued Iain noticed his hand was shaking ever so slightly as he recalled the past. "One day kid goes missing and his mother gets hysterical, why you would bring your kid onto a station like this is beyond me but whatever" Russel shrugged before pointing down another hallway for Iain to head through.

"Anyways she runs to the door to go out and look for him, what little security we had with us stopped her at first. Crazy broad decks one of them and sacks the other then hits the door controls…" Russel trailed off into silence the shaking in his hands was getting worse Iain could hear the rattle of his pistol. "Corridor's pitch fucking black and outta that darkness two giant clawed hands reach out and grab her pulling her out of the room" Russel said pausing to grab his shaking hand. Iain was surprised that Russel was still talking but it seemed like the disturbed man couldn't stop.

"Takes a second for us to react but suddenly it's a damn mad dash to the door to close it. Security was there first… poor Reggie gets speared by the thing's tail in the process but manages to hit the door controls and it starts to close…" Russel trailed off once more, Iain had a pretty good idea what happened next and was going to say he didn't have to continue but Russel pressed on with a vein starting to bulge in his forehead. "The damn monster made it through just as the door shut behind it trapping us with it" Russel hissed, his gravelly voice getting louder as he recalled that fateful day.

"All shit breaks loose, everyone's screaming and that _thing's_ just screeching at us, security moves to stop it… at least they went down fighting. Let me tell you something bub you ain't never seen shit like this before, nothing but claws and teeth and teeth inside its teeth, fucker cut down everyone!" Russel exclaimed his voice bouncing off the walls Iain instantly regretted his decision to probe the man but it was too late Russel was on autopilot.

"Somehow I got around it and picked up this here gun off of what's left of Reggie" Russel waved his gun around frantically his voice still far too loud for Iain's liking.

"Look man you need to keep your voice dow-" Iain began before being cut off by the hyperventilating man.

"I'm at the door controls and hit them, door takes for fucking ever to open!" Russel exclaims ignoring Iain's earlier plea. "Then I hear it growl behind me and it's just there staring me down, don't know with what cause the thing's got no damn eyes in the first place!" Russel chuckled mirthlessly. "I'm fumbling with the gun and I just know I'm dead…" Russel drifts off into another silence as he rotates the chamber of his gun absentmindedly. That's when Dave, salt of the earth, rushes it with a crowbar, only thing he could grab from his workstation before the lockdown happened" Russel chuckled again and Iain's eyes drifted down to the maintenance jack at his waist.

"Crazy bastard yells at me to shut the door, locking him and a good two dozen other people in there with that monster… and I did it" Russel sniffed before looking back into Iain's eyes. "The last thing I saw before those doors closed was my best friend having his throat torn out by that beast!" Russel practically yelled as he slammed his fist against the panelling at his side. The crash of fist on metal seemed to echo on forever, probably alerting everything in the whole station to their presence.

"Look man I'm sorry that happened but you need to turn it down a notch" Iain hissed straining his ears for any approaching sounds. Luckily there didn't appear to be anything approaching them despite Russel's outburst.

"How about I turn you down a notch?" Russel growled pressing his pistol underneath Iain's chin. The man was shaking like a leaf with sweat pouring from his brow. Glancing ahead he gave a quick nod before pulling away from the startled freighter pilot "there's comms looks like the GPS wasn't shitting us, it's open" Russel sighed before looking back to Iain who was staring at him apprehensively. "Look you wanted to fucking know so I told you, now get moving not much farther now."

The pair resumed their earlier pace with Iain still on point and Russel bringing up the rear. They moved in complete silence as they approached the opened doors at the end of the hallway. Iain was actually surprised Russel was capable of keeping quiet, the man had even managed to cease the rattle in his pistol. At the same time Iain did feel terrible about the situation he basically made the guy relive one of the most traumatic moments of his life and then told him to shut up about it. Gritting his teeth Iain realised he needed to apologize if for no other reason than to clear his own conscious. "Look man I'm sorry about… Russel?" Iain looked around in confusion, he was completely alone Russel was nowhere in sight. Against his better judgement, which Iain realised he had been disregarding all day, Iain retraced his steps but there wasn't a single sign of his companion.

As he crept further down the hall he felt his foot brush up against something on the floor. Looking down Iain felt his heart lodge itself firmly in his throat. Sitting at his feet, alongside a massive puddle of blood, was Russel's rusty pistol. Slowly reaching down Iain grasped the weapon only to immediately jerk his hand back in disgust. The pistol was coated in a thick layer of slime that looked like it had sealed the weapon to the floor. As Iain tried to wipe off the slime from his hand he could hear a faint hissing emanating from the darkness. Looking around Iain realised he was in a four way intersection with paths branching in different directions.

Wherever the sound was coming from didn't matter as it reverberated off the walls making it sound like Iain was surrounded on all sides. Not taking any further chances Iain rushed down the hall as quickly and quietly as he could towards the comm center. Passing the door he quickly slammed down the emergency locking mechanism which shut the door behind him with a grinding slam that echoed in the dimly lit area.

Moving forward Iain did his best to look around for what he needed. Time was of the essence and while sending out an emergency signal wasn't exactly his idea he couldn't deny that it couldn't hurt his chances of survival. The comm center itself was large area with banks of computers lining the tightly packed area. The ceiling above him was angled down towards the center of the room where the main walkway was situated. Looking around Iain quickly spotted his target, a raised platform sealed in transparisteel that gave it protection while simultaneously allowed whoever was in it to overlook the area below.

Rushing to the ladder Iain made his way up, despite his tired limbs Iain pressed on ignoring the strain his body was undergoing. "Man I'm gonna be ripped when this shit's over" Iain chuckled as he reached the top of the ladder. Turning to face the primary command console Iain's hopes were instantly dashed when he saw what was left of it. The entire primary console was riddled with bullet holes and sparking gently due to the power still coursing through it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Iain hissed at what he was seeing, what asshole would shoot up the stations main link to the rest of the galaxy? Leaning against the wall to his left Iain slid down in a slump letting the maintenance jack at his waist clink against the floor. Sending out a distress signal may not have been his plan but it was still discouraging to know that there was now one less option to leave the station.

As Iain sat against the wall collecting his thoughts and letting his tired body rest he noticed a faint, pale blue glow over his shoulder. "Hey SALI" Iain chuckled before the AI could perform her usual greeting.

"Good evening Mr. MacRury I am glad that you were able to make it to communications" SALI stated cheerfully. The statement while harmless enough brought a dejected sigh to Iain as he sat against the AI's display panel. "Is something troubling you Mr. MacRury?" SALI asked.

Pointing over to the ruined console Iain felt a growing weight in the pit of his stomach. "Console's fucked and whatever's out there got Russel so I'm back to being alone" Iain sighed feeling the weight of the situation weigh him down further. Surprisingly even the company of a barely sane gun-toting asshole was better than nothing.

"That's not true Mr. MacRury" SALI stated kindly from behind him getting his attention. "I am still here after all and… oh my, it would appear that there are several other people entering the comm center right now" SALI replied happily.

"What?!" Iain barked leaping to his feet and staring down from the viewport of his command station. True to SALI's words a door across the wide open area slid open revealing a cramped room filled with several men carrying equipment that Iain couldn't make out from this distance. "What the shit, the elevators are working?" Iain hissed as the group of five made their way down the tight pathway that ran down the center of the room.

As they made their way closer to Iain's position the group of people below became easier to see once the emergency lights brought them into the light. They were all wearing thick padded armour the kind you would see riot police wearing and each one carried a different piece of equipment. Some had guns while the others had devices Iain couldn't really make out, they looked vaguely gun-like but with the limited visibility it was difficult to be certain.

Iain leaned in closer to the glass as the group of five came to a sudden halt in the center of the room. As Iain tried to discern why they had stopped they suddenly turned their weapons up to his position in the command center the flashlights on their guns temporarily blinding Iain.

Iain could hear them shouting up to him but with how far away they were and how thick the glass in front of him was he could just barely make out what they were saying. "Put the guns down assholes I'm sick of…" Iain trailed off as he looked back to the group below or more specifically what was slowly descending from a lowered vent behind them. A long segmented tail crept down from above, Iain wouldn't have seen it if not for the steadily spinning orange emergency lights. None of the group on the ground seemed to notice it though as their attention was locked on him.

"Come on guys look behind you!" Iain called out pointing at the danger behind them. The freighter pilot's efforts were wasted however as none of the group noticed what he was doing or could discern what he was saying from their spot. Iain looked on in horror as the razor sharp tail reeled back and struck at its first victim. As the man's screams filled the comm center Iain watched on transfixed by what was unfolding before him.

"We're so fucked…"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone sorry about the long wait but it's been a busy couple weeks. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because I was able to have a little more person to person dialogue. Main point of this chapter was establishing atmosphere and show that the Xenomorph is out hunting. Next chapter's gonna have a bit more action to it so that should be a lot of fun.**

 **Hope everyone's doing well until next time folks take it easy!**


	3. Chapter 3 - First Contact

**Chapter 3: First Contact**

"Man this is some bullshit."

That was now the fifth time that day Private Curtis Goulard had voiced his opinion on his group's current predicament. It wasn't that they necessarily disagreed with the irritable ginger. The four other men that made up Detainment Squad Six were simply very tired hearing about it. So despite their youngest member's sudden outburst the four of them kept quiet as they crept through the deserted halls. Hyperion had been quite the nice place to live on despite being situated in the middle of nowhere space, now the entire station just felt like one expansive tomb.

Hoisting his heavy tranquilizer rifle over his shoulder Curtis glowered at his squad mates' silence. "What? You pricks ignoring me now?" He questioned with a sneer that would make anyone want to slap him. Though the others had welcomed the brash kid into the fold they were still sometimes put off by his less than pleasant attitude.

"No we'll acknowledge you… once you have something fresh to talk about" Kramer responded looking back at the brash private with a smirk before continuing on their trek. As squad leader of DS-6 Staff Sergeant Cory Kramer had come to know each member of his team quite well during their stay aboard Hyperion. Curtis was a good kid at heart, if a little green for the kind of work they were tasked with. Kramer wasn't surprised that the kid was on edge, he hadn't even been with the company for a year and everything had already gone tits up.

"That's the Sarge's way of telling you to cram it" grumbled the stout man to Curtis' right. Corporal James Gill was a good old fashioned military man hardened by his years of service with the Colonial Marines. Those years had a tendency to creep back to him and he would revert to his military roots a little too often. Kramer really couldn't blame him for it old habits were hard to break after all. With over twenty years in the Colonial Marines under his belt Gill was easily the most experienced of their squad and more often than not acted as Kramer's right hand man. How Weyland-Yutani managed to snag the stocky vet was still a complete mystery but it was common knowledge that being shunted down to a corporal within the company had left a sour taste in his mouth though he held no ill will towards the rest of his team.

"Come on Gill you know that's not what I meant, also how many times do I have to tell you to cut out that Sarge crap, Kramer will do just fine." DS-6's squad leader chuckled as the group passed by a set of doors that would lead them to the cafeteria. They paused in front of the doors just long enough to stare at them uncertainly, they had heard about the bloodbath that ensued in the eating quarters and had no intention of viewing the aftermath for themselves.

Gill was the first to break eye contact with the set of doors. Regarding their squad leader with a sly smirk the gruff veteran gave him a slow salute "I'll try to keep that in mind… Sarge."Kramer couldn't help but break into a smile at the stout soldier's attempt at alleviating the mood.

Shaking his head at the playful jab Kramer turned his attention over to the other two members of their team. "Hey Tanner you going to get your nose out of that datapad or am I gonna have to take it away again?" Kramer called back to the team's technical expert. Admittedly _expert_ was a bit of a stretch but Private Tanner Whitehead was about as close to an expert as they were going to get. Tanner had actually been with Weyland-Yutani the longest of all of them hopping from position to position over the years. The cumulative experience made him something of a jack of all trades.

"Sorry boss, still trying to get SALI to respond" Tanner replied dejectedly. His tone of voice made it perfectly clear how much progress he had made on the matter.

Dropping back to the rear of the group Kramer placed a bracing hand on the sandy haired private's shoulder. "Forget about it for now pal, we all need to have our eyes and ears peeled in case our quarry decides to show itself" Kramer's encouraging words were enough to bring Tanner's head up from his seemingly impossible task.

"Right, sorry boss" Tanner responded as he stored his datapad back into its holster before reaching around to his back where he kept his gear. After going over the high impact magnetic net-launcher once more to make sure everything was in working order Tanner looked back to his squad leader to give him a thumb's up.

Satisfied by his renewed focus Kramer turned to the last man on the team. "Hey Leo you've been pretty quiet lately, got anything to add?" Kramer asked not expecting much of an answer. Corporal Leopold Charrette was about as quiet as they came, he was somewhat hard to read and part of Kramer's task as squad leader was to break the reclusive corporal out of his shell.

Pushing the glasses on the end of his nose up Leo regarded the Sergeant coolly before deciding to respond. "I'll be honest Kramer… I'm kinda with Curtis on this one" Leo muttered, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"How so?" Kramer asked trying to get the normally reserved corporal to open up.

"Well this whole situation's bullshit… we're out here trying to catch some monster they cooked up in the labs that's already murdered its way through the station" Leo stated, raising his voice just enough for the others to hear. "The last orders we got were to be on the lookout for this _xenomorph_ and detain it causing as little damage to it as possible" Leo continued checking his own gear as they crept down the deserted halls.

It was the most Kramer had ever heard Leo speak in one go and the reserved corporal was completely right. "Look I know it's not ideal, but orders are…"

"Bullshit" Curtis interrupted falling back to join in on the conversation between Kramer and Leo leaving Tanner and Gill to take point. "Look it would be one thing if we had new orders coming in or if we could at least talk to SALI but we don't and it's bullshit!" Curtis exclaimed, the young private's voice echoing loudly off the walls. "Last message we got from that windbag Blanchette was 'hey there's a monster on the loose oops, go catch it kay? Thanks bye! And we've been going off that ever since!"

"Look I know you guys are pissed, so am I but we don't have much other choice now do we?" Kramer asked the two youngest members of the team expectantly. "The station's locked down, no way on or off, that means we're locked in here with whatever this thing is until we catch it or it catches us" Kramer stated leaving the sentence hanging for it to sink into the others. They had no choice but to hunt this beasty otherwise they could very well become the hunted.

"I agree with you Sarge we got to take this thing down" the gruff voice of Gill called back from the front of the group. "But I got to say I don't like the company just leaving us in the dark, that's not how you delegate what needs to be done, gives off the impression that we're expendable and not worth informing" Gill snorted at the thought of Weyland-Yutani operating like an actual military unit. His view was clearly shared by his squad as they all looked at each other uneasily.

"Well let's face it Weyland-Yutani doesn't give two shits about us. If they did, they wouldn't have told us to capture a monster that's slaughtered most of this station alive" Tanner piped up going over his gear once more. It was a small nervous tick the tech specialist had picked up since his time on the station and it had only gotten worse since this whole debacle started. "We don't even know if any of the other squads are still out there, for all we know we're all that's left" Tanner continued checking the sights on the net-launcher for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"True but we'll find out soon enough, we're scheduled to rendezvous with all remaining squads at the rally point set up in the armory once we've done our rounds" Kramer stated taking point once more and leading his team through the darkened halls. Kramer knew that part of his job as squad leader was to try and keep up morale but it was getting exceedingly difficult with each curve ball sent their way. First they had received their capture orders that seemed tantamount to suicide. Next they started getting reports over short wave communications of the wanton slaughter spreading across the station and now it seemed as if the security staff and much of the population aboard Hyperion had been reduced to a small handful. Things were getting worse and worse by the hour and Kramer knew that most of his squad was near the breaking point.

"Hey boss, where we heading to next?" Curtis asked taking up a spot along Kramer's right.

"Well we're going to pass through communications check for signs of life, if the creature's not there then we check for survivors… then see if we can get a distress signal out" Kramer said slowly glancing at the rest of the group.

"Wait, when did the Company order us to send out a distress signal?" Tanner asked in confusion pulling out his datapad to go over his recent notes he had jotted down.

"They didn't, but the way I see it they didn't tell us not to either" Kramer chuckled drily earning smirks from the rest of his team. Kramer couldn't care less about capturing the creature, his main goal was the safety of his men and the few remaining lives aboard Hyperion.

DS-6 proceeded down the eerie halls of Hyperion in total silence, even the more talkative Curtis kept his usual banter to a bare minimum. They were entering the section of the station where most of the disappearances and sightings of the creature had been observed and every member of the Detainment Squad was on edge.

Creeping through the seemingly deserted corridors they would check each room as they passed looking for signs of survivors or signs of the creature they were hunting. Most rooms were empty and none of them contained any survivors but there were plenty of rooms where the creature had obviously been. Overturned furniture, torn curtains, deep gouges in the walls decorated several of these rooms but it was the dwellings with clear signs of human presence that left a sickened feeling in DS-6's collective stomachs.

There was blood splattered against the walls looking like some macabre art project. Clear signs of pointless struggle as the humans in these rooms were clearly overpowered and hauled away into the vents or outright butchered where they stood. But it was the human remains that tested the group's constitution most, even the battle hardened Gill had difficulty looking at what remained of several of the station's inhabitants.

"Jesus Christ is that…?" Curtis gasped staring into the nursery of yet another unfortunate residence. Curtis had joined with Weyland-Yutani to explore the universe and travel but this… this was not what he had expected to come along with the deal.

Placing a bracing hand on the young private's shoulder Gill gave him a comforting squeeze, one he had used many times in the past back in the Marines. "Yeah that was a baby…" Gill muttered solemnly giving a silent prayer to those unfortunate enough to be caught in this horrid nightmare. "… Come on kid the others are getting ahead of us" Gill continued giving Curtis another squeeze to break him out away from the morbid sight before him. It wasn't the worst thing he had seen during his stay with the Marines but it was up there.

DS-6 continued its morbid procession checking each and every room once again falling into silence unless to call out a find. But as they continued to search and all they found were empty rooms and piles of butchered bodies they stopped bothering to call out that as well. Upon coming across yet another room torn apart by the monster they were hunting the normally reserved Leo finally broke the silence.

"What the hell kind of monster are we even looking for?!" Leo shouted kicking over a small table revealing to the others what had set the Corporal off. It was a single finger, no doubt belonging to a young child, lying in a pool of congealing blood.

"Calm down Leo" Kramer ordered taking a step towards the agitated Corporal.

"Calm down?! Kramer, look at this shit!" Leo hissed trying his best to keep his voice low despite his outrage. "I've hunted animals before and nothing's ever come close to what this thing's done! Animals don't just kill for the fun of it!" Leo reached down to pick up the mutilated digit before throwing it into Kramer's chest plate.

"I know, which is why we need to take it down otherwise it'll just keep killing us off one by one" Kramer stated keeping his voice level to offset Leo's outrage.

"Hate to break it to you Kramer but there isn't going to be anyone left even if we do get this thing!" Leo snapped leaving the room in a flurry leaving his firearm behind.

Reaching down Kramer picked up the discarded weapon before slowly making his way back into the hall. Gill was leant up against a wall along with Tanner while Leo and Curtis were in a huddled conversation. Kramer took note of how Curtis had his arm looped over Leo's shoulders in a comforting embrace. Curtis may have had a tendency to be a brash asshole but he could also be the most empathetic of their little group, it was moments like these that made Kramer glad he had picked the young hothead for the team.

"You know what I'm gonna do when this whole mess is over?" Kramer was startled out of his thoughts by the gruff voice of Gill. The hardened vet had left his spot along the wall and had made his way beside Kramer giving him a friendly elbow to the ribs to break the staff sergeant from his thoughts. After making sure Kramer was fully paying attention to him Gill broke into a small smirk one that didn't always show up but when it did made those around him feel much better. "I'm gonna take a nice hot bath, not a shower or decontamination rinse, but an honest to goodness bath, haven't had one of those in years" Gill chuckled at the bemused look on the sergeant's face.

"Are you going to have a little yellow rubber duck to?" Kramer responded sharing the vet's grin. The thought of the grizzled battle-hardened vet using such toys was as absurd as it was funny.

"If I find one, they're not that easy to come by nowadays" Gill responded with a chuckle. Taking a peak out of the corner of his eye Gill could see the tension that had built up in Kramer from his argument with Leo alleviate. The man was so focused on the morale and wellbeing of his team he neglected himself completely. Gill took it as his own responsibility that while Kramer looked out for all of them he would look out for Kramer, it was only fair after all.

"Thanks Gill" Kramer chuckled placing a bracing hand on the shorter man's shoulder. Turning around he locked eyes with the bespectacled corporal. Whatever words Curtis had given him seemed to have calmed his nerves bringing him back to his normal aloof self. With a subtle nod that Leo thankfully returned Kramer turned his attention to the other members of DS-6. "Alright boys we've been standing around long enough we got a schedule to keep so let's get moving double time!" Kramer ordered. To the sergeant's surprise everyone fell into line, even Curtis who took point without even a hint of a complaint.

Moving as one DS-6 picked up the pace moving from room to room, corridor to corridor checking for survivors and their prey. But just as before they came up empty at every turn, frustration was beginning to set in once more for the group but luckily they had almost made it to the communications center. As the rest of the group checked the adjacent rooms Tanner rushed ahead towards the nearby elevator that had been left wide open. Cracking open a nearby panel Tanner plugged his datapad into the circuitry that ran the elevator itself checking over its status while the rest of his team made their way back to him.

"So does it still work?" Kramer asked as peaked into the vacant elevator. With the power being unreliable at best the chances of the elevator becoming an instant death trap was too high for Kramer to want to risk it without confirmation.

"That's the thing it's completely fine…" Tanner muttered scowling at the positive readings being displayed by his handheld device.

"Well that's a good thing right? So what's with the scowl?" Curtis asked leaning against a wall for support and readjusting his tranquilizer rifle that was slung across his back.

"Every system on this whole damn hunk of scrap is hemorrhaging power. Hell some of the smaller ones aren't even getting the power they need to run properly" Tanner replied looking around at the rest of his team. When none of them seemed to pick up on where he was going with this train of thought he sighed before finishing it for them. "At this point I can barely get a coffee maker to run reliably but here we have an entire elevator shaft in full working order, I'd say it's running better now than before everything went to hell" Tanner concluded slipping his datapad back into its holster with a snap.

"You think something's not right?" Kramer asked taking note of the serious look on the corporal's face.

"I know something's not right boss, this stupid thing shouldn't even have its lights on let alone being fully functional" Tanner stated giving the wall to his right a swift kick of frustration.

"Alright… any other ways into the comm center?" Kramer asked pulling out his own datapad to go over a map of the station.

"There is" Leo spoke up making his way over to stand beside his sergeant their previous argument now a distant thought. "See if we backtrack through these hallways we'll come to one of the main hub areas of the station" Leo informed as he traced the path they would need to take on the screen. "Then when we make it to here it's up five floors and then it's basically a straight line to the comm center" Leo finished pulling his hand back to let Kramer go over the path he had traced out.

"Yep that's the only other way but damn that would set us back at least an hour" Kramer grunted in annoyance at the alternative.

"Well it's either that or the elevator that I don't trust worth a damn" Tanner replied taking a peak at the path Leo laid out for them. "Then again that's a hell of a lot of walking…"

"Ok here's what we're gonna do" Kramer stated getting the group's attention. "First off we're…" the sergeant was abruptly cut off by a shrill beeping coming from his waist. Looking back at everyone uncertainly he reached down and retrieved the datapad at his hip. He hadn't had much use of the thing since everything went to hell as most of its functions were useless without SALI's assistance.

Kramer turned the screen on and immediately his brow furrowed in confusion. "What's up boss?" Curtis asked trying to peak over his commanding officer's shoulder.

"I just got a high priority alert… from the station director" Kramer replied reading through the details that were flooding the handheld. The more he read the more his eyes widened as the questions mounted. Michael Blanchette had gone completely silent after distributing his last orders, that was almost a month ago and now here he was giving fresh orders out of nowhere.

"Care to share with the rest of the class boss?" Curtis smirked receiving a sharp smack to the arm from Gill.

"Well according to this the creature we're looking for is currently situated somewhere in the comm center" Kramer informed his team taking a quick glance at the still open elevator.

"How does he know that?" Leo muttered crossing his arms, this whole turn of events felt far too suspicious for his taste.

"Doesn't say… maybe they had a tracking chip implanted into it?" Kramer suggested with a shrug.

"If they did then they should have been relaying this kind of info to us from the start" Tanner countered with a scowl.

"Look I know as much as you guys I'm just brainstorming here" Kramer sighed before returning his attention to the datapad in his hands. "It also says there's a high value civilian trapped in there with it" Kramer continued peaking the rest of his groups already heightened interest.

"High value civilian?" Tanner asked incredulously. Weyland-Yutani was known for having a somewhat lax stance on the value of human life. The thought of the company regarding a person, much less a civilian, as high value was beyond abnormal.

"Yeah, Iain MacRury, orders are to locate and detain for questioning under suspicions of… holy shit sabotage" Kramer finished holding up the datapad for the others to see. The rest of DS-6 crowded together to take a look at the profile that had been compiled on the supposed saboteur.

"Hold up… I've seen that guy" Gill commented taking a closer look at the man in the picture. "Yeah I saw them wheel him off of the Winchester, he was loaded into a cryotube, must have been over a month ago" Gill concluded scratching at his scruffy beard.

"Hold up, so that windbag Blanchette's saying this beanpole's responsible for this little shitstorm we've been dealing with?" Curtis demanded anger flushing his features.

"Under suspicion, so they're not one hundred percent sure, but it sounds like they want us to go after him as well as the creature… which he still hasn't given us any information on" Kramer fumed as he zipped through the information once more to see if he missed anything. After skipping through the information once more and coming up empty handed Kramer sighed slipping the datapad back into its holster before looking at the rest of his expectant team.

"Alright, I don't like it any more than you guys do but this may be our only shot, we take the elevator move in to secure the comm center and locate the xenomorph and MacRury, detaining both on sight. Any questions?" Kramer asked the rest of his team.

"Doesn't sound like it boss" Curtis smirked hoisting his rifle back into his grip.

"Ok then, gear check!" Kramer ordered the rest of his team. It had been a practice that he had drilled into them since the beginning of their partnership. Before any engagement they would each perform a quick gear maintenance check to make sure their equipment was in working order.

No surprise to anyone Gill was the first to finish, standing to attention the grizzled veteran recited his gear with his gravelly voice. "X12 Stun Rifle in working order full charge in all power packs, stun baton fully charged and two concussion charges at the ready sir!" Gill recited his voice echoing back to his days with the Colonial Marines.

Tanner was the next to finish, primarily due to his lack of actual ordnance. "HIM Net Launcher ready sir! Three nets at the primed should only need one though" Tanner stated shouldering the net launcher and giving his sergeant a quick nod that was immediately returned.

Leo finished just a second before Curtis so he was the next to speak. "M-241 Grenade Launcher fully stocked three paralytic gas canisters and three heavy concussion shells I will say I haven't had much chance to test it though sir!" Leo stated taking up a position by the elevator door.

Curtis being last to finish his check was also the last to report to Kramer. "Somnos Tranq Rifle clean as a whistle boss, one clip half empty but I got that as backup fresh cartridge loaded up right now. High voltage stun pistol fully charged and ready to taze the bastard" Curtis concluded with a smirk holstering the small stun gun with a quick flick oh wrist. Kramer couldn't help but grin at the kid's bravado it helped to alleviate even the darkest moods.

"Alright sounds good load onto the elevator" Kramer ordered following the rest of his group as they loaded into the confined space. "Tanner whenever you're ready" Kramer turned to their tech specialist who was eyeing the controls of the elevator uncertainly. Clearly the corporal still had reservations about the mysteriously functioning elevator but he pushed them aside pressing the buttons to send them to communications.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever with the five of them crammed into the tightly packed area. These types of elevators were usually good to carry around seven people so the five of them shouldn't have had much problem. But with their gear and padded body armour free space quickly became a rare commodity.

When the doors thankfully slid open DS-6 filed out of the elevator thankful to finally be out of the confined space. Just as Tanner thought they now found themselves in the comm center itself. The main communication hub was located on the other side of the room with the rows of severs filling in the space between. Despite the assurance of their quarry being located here there was no sign of movement or sound.

Sliding up beside Kramer, Gill gave the room an appraising eye before grunting at the room in general. "I got a bad feeling about this Sarge" Gill muttered raising his stun rifle and doing a quick sweep of the room. "Motion detector's picking up nothing" he continued addressing the small device attached to the side of his weapon.

"Well we can still see if we can get a message out at the hub, with luck we might be able to get an evac for the survivors" Kramer responded hoisting his own tranquilizer rifle into position.

"I don't like this Sarge" Gill muttered again his eyes darting all over the room trying to pick up on even the slightest movement. "You know what they say, if it smells like shit…" Gill muttered once more giving Kramer an appraising eye.

"It probably is…" Kramer sighed as the group of five crept along the main walkway at the center of the room. It truly was an interesting design choice with the roof being so low following the walkway only to rise up on either side.

"Movement!" Curtis called out whipping his rifle upwards focusing the beam of his light into the booth that stored the long range communications console. Kramer was quick to move to the front of the group to see who was on the other side of the ginger's light.

It was difficult to make out at this range with the fluctuating light but there was no mistake about it they had just found one of their targets. "That's MacRury" declared the sergeant raising his own weapon towards the suspected saboteur. "Come on down here!" Kramer called out to the lone figure in the booth. They could see the man mouthing something back to them but with distance and the glass between them there was no way to make out what he was saying.

"Don't think he can hear us boss" Curtis chuckled taking a step back to stand beside Tanner. "What's he pointing at?" Curtis asked watching the man point and wave his arms around frantically.

"Argh!" Tanner suddenly cried out in anguish. Spinning around as one the rest of DS-6 turned to watch in horror as their tech specialist was being hoisted into the air. Protruding from his chest was long serrated tail as black as midnight save for the copious amounts of Tanner's blood drenching it. Looking down at the shocked faces of his team Tanner reached out to them hopelessly "help… me" he gasped before being wrenched upwards by the monstrous appendage.

Tanner was pulled up into the open vent cover that the tail had appeared from. For a moment it looked like Tanner would be able to hold himself until a monstrous shriek echoed from the vent and Tanner was pulled into the confined space, his spinal column breaking from the pressure. Just as Tanner disappeared his net launcher, which he had held onto the entire time discharged unleashing the metal laced net into the still stunned group.

Curtis was the unfortunate person to be struck by the high speed net. In an instant the brash private was knocked to the ground pinned by his friend's own weapon. "Get me out of this thing!" Curtis roared as another shriek echoed from the vent drowning out his pleas for assistance.

That shriek was enough to break Gill from his stunned state and the grizzled veteran immediately ran over to Curtis who was still desperately trying to pull the net off of himself. "Hold on son" Gill grunted grabbing hold of the net and pulling with all his might but to no avail.

"It's no use the thing's magnetically sealed to the floor!" Kramer shouted running up beside the pair and pulling out his combat knife. "Hold still kid!" Kramer ordered as he slipped the knife in between the stands of the net. With a loud grunt Kramer pulled upwards trying to cut through the strands. Suddenly the force holding him in place gave way and Kramer fell to the ground clutching the hilt of his knife and the small portion of blade that was left.

"Damn it! Alright form a ring around Curtis, keep your eyes peeled!" Kramer ordered as he ran back to Curtis who was still struggling with his prison. Gill stood up as well taking a position opposite of Kramer. Looking over to his right Kramer could spotted Leo spinning around his eyes wide and weapon shaking in his hand. "Damn it Leo fall into position now!" Kramer commanded snapping Leo's attention to him.

"No! I told you this would happen! I'm not dying like this Sarge!" Leo cried making a break for the still open elevator doors.

"Damn it, get back here!" Kramer roared at Leo's retreating figure.

Scrambling into the elevator Leo mashed the door control trying to seal himself away from the comm center. As the door slowly began to close Kramer could only look on in horror as the roof of the elevator collapsed in on itself. An enormous black form had just dropped in with Leo and as the doors slid shut Kramer got the last look he would ever get of the once stoic corporal, a terrified expression as he slowly turned his head to see what had just dropped into the confined space with him.

The doors sealed shut forming a tense silence and suddenly the comm center echoed with the sound of Leo's discharging weapon, his terrified screams and a blood curdling inhuman screech. The cacophony of battle lasted barely ten seconds but it felt like an eternity to those still alive in the center of the darkened room.

"Jesus fuck we're fucked, we're fucked, we're fucked!" Curtis cried out still struggling helplessly against his metallic prison.

"Stay calm kid we're not done yet" Gill muttered keeping his eyes transfixed on the closed elevator doors at the end of the room.

Suddenly a loud clear ding echoed in the darkness catching everyone's attention. The cheery chime of the elevator doors opening was a stark contrast to the feelings of dread and anxiety that were overwhelming the remaining members of DS-6 and the lone pilot petrified in the booth above. The doors slowly opened revealing a dense fog of olive green smoke released from Leo's weapon.

Aiming down the sights on his tranquilizer rifle Kramer fired off few rounds in succession into the dense fog. Each shot fired resulted in a loud metallic ping signalling the sergeant had merely hit the back end of the elevator. Ejecting his spent cartridge and replacing it Kramer turned his attention back to Gill who looked equally grim. Losses were a part of the job and could happen at any time but both of them had just watched as two of their closest friends' lives were snuffed out.

"What do you think Sarge?" Gill grunted double checking the charge on his weapon.

"Stay calm we can make it through this" Kramer replied taking a quick glance at the still trapped Curtis who was still squirming under the magnetically sealed net. _How the hell am I supposed to get him out of that… guess we'll need something to demagnetize it from the…"_ Kramer's thoughts were cut off by a shrill ping coming from Curtis' gun, or to be more specific the built in motion tracker.

"Oh shit!" Curtis squealed in panic looking at the screen in front of his face.

"What do you see kid?" Gill asked trying to keep his voice level.

"It's in here with us! Ten meters away and closing!" Curtis exclaimed his chest rising up and down rapidly undergoing extreme hyperventilation. "Get me out of here already! Oh shit five meters!" Curtis screamed thrashing wildly in the net.

"No way it can't be that's… right on top of us…" Kramer trailed off before whipping his gun upwards just in time to be knocked to the ground by an enormous black shape. Kramer hit the ground face first with the creature leaning over him his gun skittering across the floor from the impact. Gill quickly moved in with his own weapon at the ready but the creature quickly lashed out with its tail smacking the gruff veteran away with vicious sweep.

Gill slammed against a nearby server, his back screamed in agony from the hard blow and his ankle twisted under him as he tried to right himself. He looked to his gun to see that it had been bent into a ninety degree angle. It had taken the brunt of the impact, probably saving his life in the process.

Curtis looked on in horror as the creature before him leant down and lined its head up with Kramer's. The sergeant had been knocked unconscious by the sudden impact and was unable to defend himself against the hostile entity looming over him.

In his adrenaline charged mind time seemed to slow giving Curtis time to take in every horrific detail of the creature they had been tasked to subdue. It was a massive beast at least seven feet tall, its tail was just as long if not longer ending in a savage blade. The creature's skin was jet black and the areas around its chest and arms looked to be almost biomechanical. The monstrosity's hands were enormous and each digit ended in a claw that looked more like a knife than a finger.

The most striking feature though was the creature's head. Elongated and perfectly smooth it reached all the way to the small of the xenomorph's back running between four tube-like protrusions that sprouted from the creature's back. The creature had no eyes to speak of at all. To Curtis it looked as if its elongated head simply sloped down into its mouth where the trapped ginger could plainly see a row of silvery needle like teeth.

The creature pulled back on Kramer's head aligning the Sergeant with its mouth. Curtis could only watch as the creature's lips pulled back in a vicious snarl parting its teeth to reveal a smaller mouth situated within the beast's open maw. The smaller mouth shot out like a piston smashing through the back of the still unconscious Kramer's head in a plume of blood, skull fragments and grey matter. The caring sergeant was dead before he hit the ground.

"You fucking bastard!" Curtis howled beneath the net still thrashing, still trying desperately to free himself from its confines. The exclamation was enough to get the creature's attention who slowly turned its head to gaze at him menacingly. Rising to its full height the creature towered over Curtis who kicked out against the net to no avail. Each step the creature took seemed to shake the ground as it slowly made its way towards the trapped private.

"Back off asshole" came a gruff voice from behind Curtis. Tilting his head back Curtis could see Gill making his way towards him and the creature. He was limping badly and he was bent at an awkward angle to alleviate some of the pain coursing through his injured back but he kept moving forward determined to save the last of his team and avenge those he had lost.

"I said back… OFF!" Gill roared snapping his stun baton to his side, triggering the electric current that ran along its edge. The xenomorph came to a halt at the sudden outburst tilting its head to the side as if regarding the grizzled veteran like a child would a new toy.

With an explosive burst of speed the creature leapt forward charging down Gill with a vicious snarl. The xenomorph leapt into the air with another ear piercing screech that echoed around the center. Despite his injuries and age Gill dove to the left getting out of the way of the creature as it slammed down on the ground with a deafening crash. Taking his chance Gill charged forward stun baton at the ready, the creature responded by lashing out with its tail looking to impale him with the deadly appendage. Ducking to the right saved his life as he felt the serrated tail slice into the top of his shoulder where his face had been just a moment before.

Gritting his teeth through the pain Gill struck with the stun baton landing a clean hit on the xenomorph just underneath its massive jawline. The creature roared in anger as the sharp crack of electricity forced it back in surprise. The creature took several steps back placing one of its hands along where Gill had struck it. After a moment of silence, that Gill took to analyse his opponent, the grizzled veteran's heart sank as the creature looked back to him, its lips parting in a macabre facsimile of a smile.

Marching towards him at a leisurely pace the creature took almost no heed of the veteran's stun baton as once again it snaked in to catch it just below the jaw where neck met head. Just as before the loud crack of electricity echoed in the darkened room but instead of jumping back like it had the first time the monstrous creature reached out with lightning fast reflexes and grasping Gill by either side of his shocked face.

Hoisting the veteran up to meet it face to face the xenomorph opened its mouth, once more revealing the deadly appendage inside. "Choke on it" Gill muttered as the creature's inner mouth shot out. Viscera exploded outwards as the creature pierced the bearded corporal through the eye. The moment it happened Gill's body gave one last involuntary spasm before going completely limp. With a derisive snort the creature tossed Gill away haphazardly as if discarding a piece of trash.

The deafening silence that followed the veteran's execution lingered as the two remaining humans stared at the creature in shock and horror. Slowly the creature turned to face the still trapped private who had ceased his hopeless attempts to escape, petrified by the loss of his team and the seeming futility of his worsening situation.

Curtis's mouth ran dry as the towering creature took its first step towards him. By the second step Curtis had found new life and once more began thrashing in his steely confines. Once the creature had taken its third step it was already looming over the panicking private. Bending down slowly the monstrous creature, responsible for the deaths of countless aboard the Hyperion, surveyed the now petrified Curtis with its eyeless gaze.

"Get the fuck away from me you ugly son of a bitch!" Curtis cursed giving the net he was trapped in another fruitless kick. The creature ran its knife like talons across the metallic mesh its lips peeling back in a snarl as it inspected the trapped ginger.

"I said get the fuck away from me! Go fuck with the guy up there!" Curtis yelled tilting his head upwards in the direction of the control booth where Iain still stood, transfixed by the horrors happening just below him. The creature stopped at the trapped private's words slowly turning its elongated head to face the lone pilot in the upper room.

"Yeah see him? Go get him I ain't going anywhere" Curtis pressed hoping his ploy could buy him a few extra minutes. The creature stared down Iain with its non-existent eyes slowly rising from its crouched position. There was a low snuffling sound coming from the monstrosity as it began to walk away from Curtis.

"Come on asshole! Go get him!" Curtis yelled his voice echoing loudly in the spacious center.

The xenomorph suddenly unleashed a deafening shriek as it whirled around to once again face Curtis whose heart soared into his throat at the menacing snarl on its face. Covering the distance it had created in two long strides the creature was once more towering over Curtis, a long stream of drool pouring from its shuddering maw.

"What!? No get him!" Curtis barked, panic flooding his face once more.

Reaching down the creature grabbed hold of the netting holding Curtis in place and with a monstrous roar detached the magnetically anchored net from the ground in one swift motion. Not willing to go down without a fight Curtis used his brief moment of unrestrained movement to tilt his rifle upwards. As fast as Curtis moved, the creature proved far faster. Before Curtis could line up a shot the xenomorph's dagger like tail speared the tranquilizer rifle shearing the firearm in two in one swift motion.

With nerves still on edge from the adrenalin high he was experiencing, Curtis rolled onto his stomach to scramble to his feet. Bracing his feet against the metallic flooring Curtis pushed forward from his improvised sprinter's crouch only to have a searing pain radiate through his leg bringing him back to the hard floor. Looking back the brash private's eyes widened in a mixture of pain and terror. The damn monster had skewered him straight through his calf with its tail!

Gritting his teeth against the pain Curtis lashed out with his free foot kicking at the creature's tail with what little strength he could muster. His efforts earned him a pained roar from his attacker who closed the distance in a single step before grasping Curtis' last hope for self-preservation. Hoisting the squirming detainment squad member up by his leg the creature inspected the limb before plunging its inner mouth into it garnering a small explosion of gore and a pained howl from the now crippled private.

"W-what the f-f-fuck!? Just fucking kill me already!" Curtis cried out, the pain from both his legs too much to bare. With and almost derisive snort the creature dropped Curtis down to the floor in a tangled heap his already ruined leg bending at an awkward angle ruining any hope of repairing it. "What!? You just g-gonna leave me h-here!?" Curtis called out incredulously.

It was then that Curtis realised that the creature's tail was still firmly logged into his right leg. As the distance between the pair lengthened Curtis felt his leg tug forward generating another flood of pain. Slowly Curtis was dragged across the metallic floor as the creature made its way to an open grating situated in the floor. Those maintenance hatches lead into the bowels of the station going for miles, if the xenomorph took him to those darkened depths there would be no way to get back out.

Ignoring the pain in his ruined legs Curtis managed to roll over so his stomach was now against the floor as he slowly slid along it. _Got to grab hold of something! Fucker's not taking me down there!_ But try as he might the brash private found himself completely out of reach. In desperation Curtis tried his best to grip the floor itself hoping to find some purchase in the smooth surface.

His attempts, while valiant, proved to be ineffective as his fingers were slowly rubbed raw as they slid along the hard metal floor. The xenomorph had already entered the vent and had not let up on its goal to drag the struggling private in with it. The creature's abduction continued at an almost leisurely pace as Curtis slowly descended into the darkened hatch.

With one last burst of energy Curtis reached out to grasp onto the handle to the maintenance hatch itself. Looping his arm through the metal post Curtis came to a sudden jerked stop, the deceleration must have been enough to dislodge the xenomorph's tail because Curtis could no longer feel the deadly appendage… or his own leg for that matter.

Reaching up through the opening Curtis began to slowly climb back out of the maintenance hatch. Each inch was a battle but the brash kid was making his way out of the darkened passage and back into the semi illuminated comm center. Just as Curtis' head breached the opening a clawed black hand appeared from the darkness over his shoulder and grasped the defeated man by the face. "Well… fuck" were Curtis' last words before the alien organism pulled him back into the darkness never to be seen again.

Up above in the main hub for the comm center Iain stood horrified at what he had just witnessed. Five heavily armed and armoured soldiers torn to shreds in the blink of an eye. He had seen shit like this in horror movies but never anything even remotely close in real life. _How the fuck am I supposed to get away from that!_

"Mr. MacRury…" SALI started from her position in the wall, trying to get the shocked pilot's attention. When Iain didn't immediately respond SALI tried once more this time with a little more force. "Iain!" The elevated volume of the AI's artificial voice was enough to snap Iain's attention back to the light blue screen along the wall.

SALI's understanding of human emotions was as good could be, her primary function as an assisted living program ensured that she would have regular interactions with plenty of humans. Over time she managed to take what had been programmed into her database and bolster it with her time among the residence of Hyperion to formulate a broader understanding of how the average human operated on an emotional spectrum. All it took was a quick scan to see that Mr. MacRury was experiencing a heightened sense of terror, clearly directed towards the alien organism he had just witnessed.

"Iain you need to listen to me…" SALI continued making sure the stunned pilot was paying attention to her by flashing various colours across her screen. Addressing him by his first name helped ensure familiarity, a common comfort among most humans. Taking charge with an authoritative voice helped bolster the confidence of humans when they were being directed. If the AI still had the use of her old arms she would have slapped the pilot across the face to shock him back into focus. Humans were actually incredibly simple beings to coerce with the proper knowledge and a little practice.

"That creature will be coming back you need to get out of here it's not safe for you" SALI stated adding a little urgency to her voice to emphasize the danger of the situation.

"W-w-where the h-hell do I go?" Iain asked in confusion. If SALI still had a physical face she would be smiling, getting him to talk was excellent progress.

"I will assist you in procuring a ship to get off the station" SALI stated once again making sure to infuse her speech patterns with confidence to reassure the shaken pilot. "I will direct you once you're back in the corridors but first I need you to get out of here" SALI pressed once more she could just pick up the sounds of skittering emanating from a nearby ventilation shaft, the creature worked extraordinarily fast, she had hoped Private Goulard would have at least bought them a few minutes.

"Hurry Iain, it's coming back!" SALI commanded sparking Iain's focus.

"R-right, I'll meet you outside" Iain replied taking his first shaky step forward. It wasn't long before Iain broke into a jog that brought him to the ladder that would lead him from the catwalk to the ground level below. Grabbing both ends of the latter in still shaky hands Iain took a deep breath before looking down. The floor was only about fifteen feet below nothing too drastic but that didn't mean he was ok with falling that distance, still time was of the essence.

"Come on Iain just like in the movies" Iain said to himself as he placed both feet on either side of the ladder rungs. Loosening his grip the pilot slid down the ladder at a surprising speed and soon found his feet planted back on solid ground. Avoiding the bodies in the center of the room Iain ran towards the entrance he had come from initially just a few seconds later Iain was once again in the darkened corridors that he had spent so long traversing.

Looking ahead Iain could see the first of SALI's active stations the glowing blue light emanating from the screen was incredibly comforting and helped reinforce Iain's resolve. _Fuck this shit I'm out! I don't care how I got here or what that thing is, I just want out of this nightmare._

"Keep going this way Iain" SALI urged as he passed her. He would keep going and he wouldn't stop until he was safely off this station. It was either that or become alien food. And so with those reassuring thoughts Iain pushed himself harder breaking into a full sprint down the corridors eventually being swallowed by the darkness around him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone! I must apologize for how long this took to come out. Contrary to popular belief I wasn't actually dead. Instead I've been suffering a far worse fate… University exam preparation (shudder). Seriously though I hate having such long gaps in between chapters and I felt really bad about not getting this out sooner.**

 **For this chapter I wanted to achieve three main things.**

 **1\. Have more action than there's been in the previous two chapters.**

 **2\. Have a fresh perspective, even if they were quickly slaughtered.**

 **3\. Introduce the xenomorph in all its terrible glory.**

 **I believe I successfully achieved all three goals in this chapter. For those of you wondering Curtis, Gill, Kramer, Leo and Tanner are also some of my friends. They had read the first two chapters and demanded they be added to the story. So I decided to oblige them, didn't tell them I was gonna kill them all off but meh that's what they get for trying to shove their way into my creative works. I'm joking obviously those five soldiers were already set up to die from the very beginning I just needed to swap some names around and change up some of the dialogue so no harm done.**

 **I'm glad I was able to get this chapter out and I must say thank you to those who commented on the story so far. It was very insightful and a hell of a lot of information that I have taken note of.**

 **Three chapters down with only two more until the dramatic conclusion. I'll try to get the next ones out much sooner this time around and I thank you all for your patience.**

 **Until next time folks.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Running out of Time

**Running Out of Time**

"Mr. MacRury you can stop for now" SALI's soothing voice called from one of her wall panels bringing Iain to a grinding halt. The advice was given not a moment too soon for as soon as Iain finally stopped moving, his hand immediately raced to the center of his chest. Clutching at his chest Iain heaved heavily as he tried to catch his breath, his lungs felt like they were on fire!

The winded pilot quickly pressed himself against the wall opposite of the glowing blue panel that displayed SALI for support. Iain could feel his body shaking uncontrollably as he tried to settle his heartrate back to more manageable level, to no avail. Sweat was pouring from his brow in rivers, he was feeling lightheaded and the urge to collapse from shear exhaustion was quickly becoming harder to resist.

"What… the… hell…is wrong with… me…?" Iain gasped feeling another surge of pain in his chest. While no one, himself included, would have considered him a star athlete in the past surely he could handle a ten minute sprint when his life was literally on the line.

"It could have something to do with why you were administered to the medical facility, however most of my data on you is either classified or corrupted" SALI stated regarding the panting pilot who was slowly sliding down against the wall he had propped himself against. A cursory glance told the AI all she needed to know, his heart rate was clearly through the roof, he was in immense pain and discomfort judging from his dilated pupils and his body was shaking violently from the strain it was being subjected to.

"Great, even you don't know… what's wrong with me" Iain gasped taking a second to cough which only served to send a fresh wave of pain through the center of his chest. Angrily pulling his collar out Iain stared down at his chest to where the scar still ran from his collarbone to bellybutton. "Holy crap" Iain muttered uncertainly, he remembered that the flesh around the scar had been rather pink when he first saw it back in his hospital room but now it had darkened into an angry crimson.

Letting his shirt fall back harmlessly against his clearly irritated skin, Iain rested his head against the hardened metallic wall raking his memory for anything that could prove helpful. Try as he might he couldn't remember anything before awakening in the medical facility. Deciding to shove the matter of his arrival aside for later Iain looked up to the blue screen across from him and couldn't help but feel comforted by the calming blue presence. As it stood SALI was the sole person aboard Hyperion who had yet to threaten him in some way, he could only hope that trend would continue.

"Hey SALI, how much further do I have to go before I get to the hangar?" Iain asked from his spot, gently resting his tired arms against his sore chest.

"Four hundred and thirty-eight meters, however…" SALI trailed off, for the first time sounding uncertain.

Sensing the AI's apprehension Iain decided to broach whatever it was that left the AI sounding so hesitant. "What's up? Is there something wrong?" Iain inquired as he got back to his feet. He could feel his legs still throbbing from his previous exertion so he placed a steadying hand against the wall just in case, the last thing he needed was to face plant into the metal floor.

"Well Mr. MacRury it appears as if the direct route to Hangar Four has now lost all power, I have no access to two hundred and three meters of the path" SALI responded calmly.

"Ok, so what's the worst I can expect in there?" Iain asked uncertainly eyeing the path forward. He might have wanted off this station more than anything right now but he was also one hundred percent done with Hyperion's surprises.

"My terminals are no longer active in that sector, I have no way of knowing what the situation could be" SALI's response was quick but none to reassuring to the still winded pilot. "If you enter that area you would be without my assistance" SALI continued making Iain grimace at the prospect. Being alone aboard this nightmare had been bad enough when he didn't know what was stalking the halls, now that he had a firsthand sighting of the creature the idea of being isolated only felt worse.

"Would it even be safe to go down that path if the power's completely out?" Iain pressed hoping for some kind of solution to this fresh dilemma.

"Life support and artificial gravity should still be functioning in those areas, if not blast doors would have locked down to preserve station wide security" SALI's explanation did raise Iain's confidence, if only marginally.

"Alright… ok… any chance there's a different path?" Iain asked hopefully.

"Negative, the only other path has been sealed off due to depressurisation, it would be best to stay away from that area entirely" SALI stated dashing Iain's hopeful inquiry.

"Damn, well how about a different hangar?" Iain questioned further he still wasn't much of a fan of creeping through the darkened halls if he could help it.

"That would be ill advised, Hangar Three is the closest one however it is over twice as far away, there also appears to have also been extensive fire damage to several corridors and it would force you to backtrack through the communications center" the AI stated with a distinct lack of enthusiasm in her synthesized voice.

"Ok fuck that, forward it is" Iain replied hastily stretching his arms to prepare for the next leg of the trip through Hyperion. "Alright let's get going I feel good as new" Iain's blatant lie wasn't fooling the perceptive AI but the pilot could only hope his cheerful disposition would convince her he was fine. The truth was he felt worse than before, all this movement was taking a heavy toll on whatever surgery the medical staff performed on him.

"Very well Mr. MacRury let's continue then" the AI replied as Iain continued down the corridor at a steady jog. Studying his movements it was clear that he was in pain but time was of the essence, she needed to get the pilot off the station as quickly as she could.

As the pilot made his way through deserted corridor after deserted corridor he was straining his ears for any telltale signs of danger. Unfortunately the almost hollow nature of wide open corridors mixed with their metallic surface made his own footsteps echo noisily off the walls, obscuring any sounds his own ears might have picked up. He could have altered his movement to lessen the noise of his steps but that would involve slowing down and that was not a prospect the pilot was going to even remotely consider for the time being.

Luckily for the worn down pilot SALI was keeping an electronic eye on their surroundings and would be able to give Iain plenty of warning in advance if there was a threat closing in on them. Though the more Iain thought about it the less he thought it would matter. After seeing what that creature did to an entire team of armed guards he was pretty sure how a direct confrontation with the beast would go for him.

"Take a left here Mr. MacRury" SALI stated breaking Iain from his contemplative thoughts.

"Thanks… SALI" Iain gasped while passing yet another calming blue screen. Taking the next left turn available Iain ducked under a door that seemed to have run out of power mid closure. Straightening back up Iain found himself in yet another seemingly identical corridor. Looking ahead, however, made Iain's blood run cold.

"Hey SALI?" Iain called out nervously.

"Yes Mr. MacRury?" SALI replied from the freight pilot's left as her screen illuminated the murky corridor casting Iain in pale blue light.

"That's the powered down section I take it?" Iain asked while he pointed down to the end of the corridor.

"That's correct, it stretches on for another two hundred and three meters…" SALI began before Iain cut her off with a frantic wave of his hand.

"Yeah but you didn't tell me it'd be dark as fucking dicks down there!" Iain exclaimed, his voice echoing through the labyrinthine corridors.

"… I don't understand you've made it this far just fine" SALI replied ignoring the distraught pilot's agitated state but double checking the surrounding corridors for movement.

"Well yeah but that was different!" Iain exclaimed throwing his hands into the air. "Those other places weren't that dark, there were those stupid emergency lights, some of the halls still had their running lights on and… and well there was you, you brighten the hell out of this place" the agitated pilot continued. "That down there is pitch fucking black I won't be able to see five feet in front of me…" Iain grumbled before trailing off into an uneasy silence while SALI processed what he had just divulged.

Humans truly were fascinating creatures, even in life or death scenarios such as this their eccentricities still managed to find a way to the surface. "Mr. MacRury?" SALI asked which only garnered a grunt from the grumbling pilot. Once more ignoring her human companion's attitude SALI pressed on with her inquiry. "Iain… are you afraid of the dark?" SALI's database of human phobias was actually quite extensive, it had to be when dealing with hundreds of humans crammed together on a space station for years at a time. Because of this she knew that fear of the dark, or nyctophobia, was actually a misnomer, it wasn't the dark most humans were afraid of but the unknown quantities that may or may not be lurking within.

"Afraid of the dark? Ha that's funny, would be kinda stupid for a freight pilot to be afraid of the dark, I mean I'm in space for months on end" Iain laughed away the inquiry with a wave of his hand while turning away from the blue screen to his left only to be faced with yet another blue screen to his right.

"Iain, there's nothing to be ashamed of, nyctophobia is a very common phobia displayed in humans, in fact fifteen percent of humans have showed signs of it in some shape or form" SALI stated hoping analytics would help ease the pilot's nerves… they did not.

"Look I'm fine ok forget it… is there really no other way to the hangar?" Iain asked taking a deep breath already knowing the answer.

"None that you would fine satisfactory, this is the best possible way to get you off the station, however I do regret that I won't be able to personally guide you through the area" SALI stated apologetically.

"Yeah I guess I would feel safer knowing you were watching my back" Iain grumbled eyeing up the darkness at the end of the corridor apprehensively. It was like a wall of shadow that abruptly consumed everything down that path. Iain was fairly certain that no one, nyctophobia or not, would want to actually step foot into that darkness.

"To be fair Iain, without a physical body I would be less than useless if you were to encounter the creature" SALI's response earned a small smirk from the restless pilot. Deciding a little more dark humour might alleviate his nerves SALI decided to press on with the joke. "In fact with the way I light up I might as well be signalling the dinner rush" SALI's attempt at humour got a hearty chuckle out of the otherwise worn down pilot. Humour had always been a difficult aspect of her programming to get a hold of, a human's sense of humour was as diverse as the person themselves. What was funny for some was not for others. Luckily Iain's brash and somewhat morbid sense of humour made the current situation somewhat easier to manage.

As Iain's laughter finally subsided he eyed up the darkness ahead apprehensively, he loathed admitting it but SALI was right. It was that way or nothing, if he wanted off this floating nightmare he needed to confront his stupid childhood fear, either that or wind up monster food. The choice was clear, though he didn't enjoy it one bit.

"Guess you're right SALI" Iain sighed dejectedly as fished into his pockets retrieving the flashlights he had grabbed from the custodial closet. "Why did I bother taking two?" Iain questioned as he looked from one device to the other. Resting both flashlights in his left hand Iain reached back into his pocket with his right to grab the spare batteries he had procured. The awkward movement was enough to jostle one of the flashlights out of his grasp where it fell to the ground with an obnoxiously loud crash.

Reaching down Iain inspected the fallen device and found the bulb inside the flashlight completely shattered. "Is that why you grabbed two?" SALI asked from beside Iain with a hint of amusement in her synthesized voice.

"Come on SALI do you really need to sass me right now?" Iain groaned as he dropped the now useless device back the ground with another loud clatter.

"Just trying to lighten the…" SALI trailed off as her short range scanners picked up on movement.

"SALI?" Iain asked uncertainly at the AI's sudden silence.

SALI was forced to ignore Iain for the moment as she jumped from panel to panel trying to locate the source of the movement. Her long range scanners may have been toast but she could still pick up movement within a relatively close proximity to her monitors. After a few tense seconds she found what had tripped her sensors, if she had been human her heart would have quite literally jumped into her throat at the sight of the xenomorph dropping down from an open air vent barely two corridors away.

This was terrible, the creature was far too close far too soon, the AI realised the clanging of the flashlight must have alerted it to Iain's presence and so SALI knew she needed to act fast, lest it be too late. Snapping back to the confused pilot, who was still waiting for SALI's response the AI quickly brought Iain up to speed. "Iain the creature is closing in you need to move now!" SALI barked, the urgency in her voice surprising even herself.

"…In the dark?" Iain asked miserably.

"In the dark" was the quick confirmation from the AI.

"Alright but how will I know which way to go?" Iain asked just realising without a guide he had no way of knowing which route to take.

"There are several station wide maps set up that don't run on electricity, they will show you the way, now get going I will try to lead the creature away" SALI stated as Iain tested the still intact flashlight.

"How're you gonna pull that off?" Iain questioned not seeing how the AI could possibly entice the creature.

"Oh I have my ways" Iain was startled to hear his own voice coming from the AI's station, SALI sure was full of surprises. "Now get going it's closing in" SALI commanded her voice sounding far more authoritative in Iain's deeper register. After a quick nod Iain darted forward running into the swirling darkness of the powered down section, his flashlight barely penetrating the suffocating blackness.

Just before reaching the wall of shadow, Iain spared one last glance backwards to where the AI was still watching him from. "See you soon" Iain grunted before turning his back on the somewhat brighter corridor before being swallowed by the darkness.

"Good luck… Iain" SALI's voice temporarily reverted back to her usual cool feminine vocal patterns before turning her attention back to the approaching threat. "Alright let's see how much time we can kill" SALI's voice had once more reverted to the shockingly close facsimile of Iain's as she switched to another panel in a separate corridor this one far closer to the creature.

"I'm fucking lost again!" SALI shouted into the corridor trying her best to keep the synthetic quality out of her voice and hoping the xenomorph would take the bait. Watching from another of her panels she kept an electronic eye on the towering organism. If it wasn't for her mission she might have taken the time to study and admire the creature, it truly was a miracle of nature. Stunningly beautiful in both its design and ferocity, truly an alpha predator like no other.

The monstrous creature was standing resolute in the corridor. To its left was the partially closed doorway that Iain had squeezed through to enter the darkened corridor and directly ahead was the expanse of metallic walls where SALI's impersonation of Iain called out to the creature, attempting to lure it away from the real thing.

The creature stood there for several moments it could hear the sounds of the human's voice ringing through the halls ahead of it. The soft hiss coming from its vicious maw grew louder as it tasted the air, something wasn't right. Looking to the left it pressed its considerable mass through the partially opened doorway and crept down the other corridor away from the distressed voice. Halfway down the hall it came to an abrupt halt before crouching down to inspect something on the ground.

SALI could only watch in apprehension as the xenomorph lifted the shattered remains of Iain's secondary flashlight. The soft hissing transitioned into a snuffling sound before its lips peeled back in a snarl. The xenomorph lifted its head and stared dead ahead towards the all-encompassing darkness of the corridor ahead.

"Hey over here!" SALI called out from beside the xenomorph hoping to stall it if only for a few seconds. Without even sparing the AI so much as a glance the hissing creature lashed out with its razor sharp tail smashing SALI's screen effortlessly in a small explosion of sparks. Tossing the broken flashlight to the side the creature crept forward melding into the darkness as SALI watched on helplessly from the other panel. The creature had Iain's scent and the pilot was now on his own.

* * *

"Fucking Christ this sucks" Iain hissed angrily as he made his way through the blackness of the powered down area. True to SALI's words life support and artificial gravity were still functioning just fine but what the AI had failed to mention was that climate control was, for lack of a better word, fucked six ways from Sunday. Iain's breath came out as a white wisp in front of him obscuring much the five feet of light his flashlight provided him.

"Dark as dicks, cold as dicks and I'm pissed as dicks" Iain's angered hiss came out between his chattering teeth it had to be ten degrees below freezing at this point and he could swear it was only getting worse by the minute.

Coming up to a juncture Iain brought his flashlight up to look around it didn't take long for the shaking light to fall on what he was searching for. Just as SALI had said there were several maps located at just about every intersection. Placing the flashlight into his mouth so he could rub his hands together Iain traced his way to his position on the map before looking ahead to the fastest path to Hangar Four. He found a small amount of satisfaction in knowing he had made it almost halfway with no mishaps, he had even managed to keep a lid on the bubbling cauldron of fear that was eating away at his nerves.

Throughout his trek through the deserted corridors Iain had made a point of moving steadily while keeping his ears peeled. SALI had said the creature was right on their tail but so far there hadn't been a single sign of the monster, in fact apart from the steady clang of his shoes impacting against the hard metal floor their wasn't a single sound whatsoever.

Deciding left would be the fastest path Iain spun on his heel and quickly made his way down the near pitch black corridors. Looking from left to right Iain could see several doors sealed shut, no doubt living quarters, that without power would probably never open again. He could only hope no one got themselves trapped in there. Waiting to see if you would starve or freeze to death first was not a prospect he found to enticing.

 _*Clink*_

Iain came to an immediate halt spinning around and shinning his paltry light into the shrouding darkness. The sound was barely noticeable but the on edge pilot was absolutely sure that it had come from behind him. After several tense moments of complete silence Iain let out a slow exhale of white breath.

"Probably just the metal in this place cooling" Iain muttered to himself before turning back down the path he was taking, this time at a slightly faster pace. Part of him wanted to dismiss the sound as nothing more than the natural sounds of a space station. Unfortunately his imagination had gone into overdrive imaging all sorts of horrors lurking just out of reach of his flashlight's berth. However even his most vivid imaginary concoction failed to measure to the very real, very terrifying creature trapped aboard the station with him. Whatever that creature was Iain could only hope he could get off Hyperion without seeing it ever again.

 _*Skreeetch!*_

Iain tensed up, that was not the sound of shifting metal, more like a knife running against a metal surface. Once again the sound came from behind him and once more his weak light source did little more than reveal his own position to anyone, or anything, lurking in the shadows. Turning away Iain picked up the pace once more this time breaking into a jog, he had memorized the next few turns ahead of time just in case and so using his light to mark the way he quickly made his way through the pitch black corridors.

"Left… Right… Straight… Straight… Right again…" Iain gasped to himself as he made his way through the corridors, the scar on his chest once more throbbing painfully. Whatever invasive surgery they performed on him it really did a number on his body.

Despite the noise he was making with his frantic pace Iain could swear he could hear the sounds of clinking and scratching just behind him as well as a low menacing hiss. Whether it was reality or his own imagination Iain pressed forward just the same until he came to a three way intersection. Looking from left to right frantically Iain looked for a map and was disheartened to see that there was none. The only thing clearly visible in the darkness was one of SALI's display panels, now powered down with a thin layer of frost spreading across its surface reminding Iain of the steadily dropping temperatures.

"Which way which way?" Iain hissed racking his brain for the next step he would need to take. He couldn't remember! Of all the times to blank on directions why did it have to be now? Iain stood there in the deserted corridor for what felt like an eternity, looking from left to right hopelessly. One path would lead him on the way to the hangar and salvation but the other would lead him deeper into this hellhole they called a station.

"Fuck it, I'll go right and backtrack if I have to…" Iain's voice hitched in his throat upon taking his first step down the path to his right. There, barely a few meters away, was a lengthy segmented tail as black as midnight extending from an open doorway. Iain's light glinted off of the blade like tip of the deadly appendage just as it slowly slinked further into the room disappearing from sight, the sound of a soft growl echoing from the room.

 _Did it not notice me? Was it ignoring me? Why am I not dead yet?_ These questions raced through the terror stricken pilot's mind but rather than answer them Iain turned on his heel and quickly made his way down the path to his left, whether it was correct or not was hardly relevant at this point.

Trying to run quietly turned out to be incredibly difficult for the worn out pilot. In truth Iain didn't believe it was possible to do so but it was either that or drum up a cacophony of noise in a mad dash. At least this way there was the chance he might be able to sneak away from the monster, after all he had already seen what happened to those who tried to run from it.

After two agonizingly long minutes Iain came to another branching path eerily similar to the one he just came from. Unlike the previous location, this one came with yet another map of the station though he had to first wipe away the layer of frost covering it with his sleeve. Shining his light against the map Iain's heart soared in relief, he had managed to luck out and go the right way, he was so close to the hangar now he could practically taste it.

As Iain's spirits were lifted by the accomplishment they were quickly replaced with uncertainty as the entire station around him shook violently, almost tossing him to the floor. "Oh now what!?" Iain shouted before quickly slamming his hand back over his mouth, shaking or not there was still a deadly alien prowling around. Tremors like that aboard a space station, or any vessel for that matter was never a good sign. Explosions, depressurisations, hull breaches, collisions, the number of possible horrible scenarios that it could be were seemingly endless and never amounted to anything short of terrible. He had heard the stories of even tiny explosions compromising entire star cruisers.

"SALI will probably know" Iain muttered before moving once more ignoring the pain in his chest. He hadn't realised how much he actually missed having the AI around. Her presence seemed to be so reassuring and alleviated a lot of the stress the pilot had been experiencing, granted that was her function aboard the station.

"You'll see her soon man, just keep moving" Iain muttered to himself as he made another left turn. The shaking had now simmered down to a low rumbling that seemed to pass through the entire station. On the bright side Iain could no longer hear the clicking or scratching noises from before, whether it was because the creature had lost track of him or because its noise was being drowned out by the station wide rumbling was yet to be determined.

Taking another right turn he could feel the temperature around him start to pick up, slowly at first but it quickly became apparent that heat was flowing from the direction he was heading. Flexing his numb fingers Iain pushed on, if there was heat then there was power and if there was power there was…

"Light!" Iain exclaimed joyfully putting on another burst of speed. It wasn't just any light at the end of that tunnel either it was a calming blue that he was, at this point, more than familiar with. Rushing through the darkness at top speed Iain was caught off guard when he ran headfirst into SALI's blue panel with a resounding crash.

"Are you ok Iain?" SALI asked hurriedly as Iain lay sprawled out at her base. The pilot seemed no worse for ware, a little sweaty and his extremities seemed to be showing the early stages of mild frost bite but other than that he seemed unharmed.

"Better now" Iain chuckled getting to his feet before staggering as yet another loud rumble shook the station around him. "SALI what the hell's going on?" Iain asked placing a bracing hand against the wall as the station around him shuddered violently once more, the vibrations were getting worse and worse.

"Do you recall that one path I mentioned earlier, the one I said had been depressurised?" SALI asked not sure if the pilot had in fact been paying attention at the time.

"Vaguely" Iain grunted while he ejected the spent batteries from his flashlight just to replace them with fresh ones.

"Well it appears to be spreading quickly, I fear we don't have much time left" SALI explained tersely. According to what few readings she could obtain almost fifteen percent of the station at that point had succumbed to depressurisation. The automatic emergency procedures were locking down deck after deck but it was apparent that Hyperion's days were numbered.

"How long do we have?" Iain asked tensely depressurisation was just about one of the worst things to deal with on a station. There were few deaths that could be considered worse and it was a very real threat that most freight jockeys like him worried about every time they made a run.

"Let me worry about that for now" SALI responded coolly, Iain's stress levels were already far too high, the last thing he needed was to have his nerves frayed further than they already were. "Now I have far more control over this side of the station" SALI said and as she did so a long line of lights lit up along the floor stretching out from Iain's feet and heading down the corridor before making a sharp right turn a few meters ahead. "Follow these running lights, they will take you directly to the hangar, I need to inspect the damage but I will return as quickly as I can" without waiting for a response SALI's panel winked out leaving a slightly dumbstruck Iain behind.

His state of shock didn't last long though as the station violently rocked once more throwing Iain off balance. Righting himself his eyes locked with the soft glow of the running lights at his feet "better do as the lady says" Iain muttered with a small smirk.

Apart from the steady shaking of the station around him, which was becoming progressively worse, Iain's run to Hangar Four was largely uneventful, which only seemed to put the pilot on edge worse than before… it was never this easy. Coming to stop in front of a pair of double blast doors Iain looked at it in confusion. He had seen similar fixtures in the past, they were made from a durium alloy and were nearly a foot thick. The plating was strong enough to resist even the worst cannon fire but here they were completely in ruins.

"What the fuck?" Iain looked at the damaged doors in front of him. They had been completely sealed shut as the top and bottoms were locked together firmly but it was the center of the door that drew the shocked pilot's attention. It looked like the middle of the doors, where they locked together had been melted clean through! Iain had seen some industrial lasers in his time, usually used for boarding stations and ships under lockdown, but none of those were strong enough to get through these types of doors.

Testing out the edges of the hole, Iain was relieved to find that they were cool to the touch and so he gingerly squeezed himself through the man sized hole until he came out into Hangar Four, or what was left of it. The place was a mess, shipping crates lay scattered around the hangar bay like trash, panelling was torn from the floors and the walls and strewn about haphazardly and then there was the bodies… Clearly the people living on Hyperion had made an attempt to get a ship in the air, the creature must have had other plans.

Pushing the sight of mangled corpses from his mind Iain focused on the task at hand. A quick scan of the hangar told him he had three ships to choose from. "Gotta love the paintjob on that one… too bad it's on fire. Oh sweet that's a Weyland-Yutani Trailblazer MK five, that thing's fast as hell… oh and look the cockpit's optional fantastic!" Iain groaned as he raced towards the only viable ship. It was a sleek spearheaded craft which immediate got the pilot's attention, there weren't too many of those types of ships, certainly none that were mass produced meaning this one was probably a custom design. In truth it looked very much like a luxury cruiser with a sleek design.

"All the better I get to leave this dump in style" Iain grinned as he made his way up the boarding ramp and towards the sealed door of the ship. Quickly hammering in a command to open the door Iain was greeted with a quick flash of red light and an obnoxious bleep. "Oh no, you better damn well open right the fuck now" Iain growled through clenched teeth. Hammering in another command to force the door open he was once again given the same response from the keypad. Looking down Iain's eyes widened in a mixture of annoyance and disgust.

"Key card required? What kind of video game bullshit is this!?" Iain howled slamming his fist against door with a resounding crash. Whirling around Iain's eyes began scanning the ruined room until he found what he was looking for. On the far side of the damaged hangar was a small kiosk situated in the wall that was used for registration. No ship could come in or out of the station without first having to check in and if he could find out who the son of a bitch was that owned the spearheaded craft then he could track him down get the key card and then get off the station. Freedom was so close he could almost wrap his fingers around it.

Hopping over what was left of a middle aged ship technician Iain slammed into the door to the check in center and almost screamed when he realised the door was totally powered down. "Not gonna let a stupid door stop me" Iain huffed marching over to the opening to the check in center. Hiking up one leg over and on to the counter Iain rolled over the edge landing hard on the floor with a dull smack that sent a jolt of pain through the pilot's chest.

"When this is all over with… I'm gonna have to… get this checked out" Iain wheezed at the searing pain in his chest. Pushing through the pain Iain got back to his feet and staggered over to one of the computers. To the pilot's immense surprise not only was it still functioning it was actually opened to the ship registry. Staggering forward Iain shoved the body of a man in the rolling chair in front of the computer to the side. "Sorry pal… but I need your seat" Iain gasped planting himself in the chair and in front of the computer. Quickly punching in the commands to bring up the spearhead Iain looked over the information intently.

"Ok so you're called Boundless Opportunity, dumb name but whatever" Iain grunted as he sorted through the information. Most of it was useless to the pilot who just wanted to know who owned the damn thing. "Cargo… redacted, of course it is, probably illegal" Iain continued sorting through the information as fast as he could all the while the steady rumbling of the station grew ever louder, it was getting to the point where Iain could actually feel the floor underneath him begin to shake.

"Come on come on where are… Aha! There you are!" Iain grinned as he opened the menu displaying the certificate of ownership. "Alright Boundless Opportunity your owner is… you got to be fucking with me…" Iain groaned staring at the screen in despair.

"Iain why are you still here?" SALI's voice cut through Iain's angered thoughts causing him to jump out of his chair. Looking to his right Iain watched as the panel against the wall lit up with a familiar pale blue light bathing the room in the AI's soothing presence.

"Because your boss owns the only working ship in this trash heap!" Iain exclaimed tilting the monitor to face the pale blue panel along the wall to his right. Iain slumped back in his chair According to both SALI and Russel no one had seen neither hide nor hair of the elusive station director since this whole mess began. He disappeared along with Iain's only hope of getting off the station from hell.

Breathing a heavy sigh Iain glanced over to the silent AI who had not responded to the pilot's outburst, no doubt trying to find the most tactful way of proceeding. "SALI, is there any chance you might have spotted your boss, or know where he might be?" Iain asked dejectedly spinning his chair around while staring up at the ceiling, he was so god damn close just to have escape snatched from him at the last second.

"I might" SALI muttered softly forcing Iain to a sudden halt.

"Where?! At this point I don't care I'll go get his ass!" Iain pressed running up to SALI's display.

"It's possible he's located in his personal quarters or at the very least the key card is" SALI stated uncertainly. Iain brushed aside the AI's trepidation she was probably just dealing with possibly going against her own programming.

"Can you lead me there?" Iain asked excitedly.

"No…" the AI's response was quick and brutal dashing the pilot's hopes in an instant. "…My programming is preventing that particular action, however…." Iain's ears immediately perked up at the AI's uncertain voice. "…I can lead you to an elevator that just so happens to lead to the executive quarters."

"How many people live up there" Iain asked a small grin spreading across his face at the AI's tendency to bend the rules.

"Just one" SALI responded, if she had a mouth Iain would have sworn she was smirking.

"Lead the way then" Iain chuckled as another rumble shook the station around him, this one feeling more like a shockwave than anything. Hurrying over to the counter Iain hopped through the opening landing on the other side about as gracefully as he did before. After picking himself up Iain saw yet another set of running lights leading to the opposite end of the hangar bay.

Racing across the body littered room as fast as his worn out legs would let him Iain dashed through another pair of blast doors, these ones undamaged, before turning into a straight corridor. Like the others it was incredibly dark with the only illuminating coming from SALI's running lights and the spinning orange emergency lights. Following SALI's guiding lights closely Iain soon lost track of the number of turns he had taken, that hardly mattered though as long as SALI's running lights were still active he could just retrace his steps back to Hangar Four.

Making his way down the corridor Iain could see the elevator at the end waiting for him but he could also feel the shaking of the station. "Hey SALI, how much longer does the station have?" Iain asked as another tremor nearly tripped the exhausted pilot.

"I'm unsure… I'll check and be right back… stay safe" the panel SALI had been speaking from suddenly blinked out as she went to inspect the growing damage across the station leaving Iain once again on his own. Luckily he had now made it to the elevator and promptly slammed his fist down on the recall button. Much to Iain's relief he could hear the lift heading downwards, it actually worked! All that was left now was to head up there and, with a bit of luck, get the key card, head back to the ship and get off this nightmare.

 _*Hisss!*_

The menacing sound coming from behind Iain made the freighter pilot's blood run cold. _So fucking close!_ Slowly turning around Iain's eyes widened in terror at what was standing before him. It was the creature from the comm center, the one that had massacred almost every living thing on this station with ease. Slowly shifting his way backwards Iain felt his back press up against the cold metal of the elevator doors, he could still hear the lift heading down.

The monstrous creature was just as he remembered from the comm center, massive in size with a biomechanical look that, in any other situation, would have been absolutely remarkable to look at. As Iain pressed the recall button again hoping in vain to speed up the process the horrific creature began to walk steadily towards the trapped pilot. The low hiss coming from the creature's drooling mouth had the hairs on Iain's neck standing on end. The creature closed the distance between itself and the terrified pilot in a few quick strides, towering over the trapped human it slowly lowered its head until the pair were face to face.

Iain's heartrate, which was already through the roof, felt like it doubled as the creature's black lips pealed back to reveal a row of silvery teeth that seemed to gleam even in the low light of the darkening corridor. The creature's hissing only grew louder as its teeth parted revealing its second, smaller mouth nestled within its dripping maw. Slamming his eyes shut Iain waited for the final, deadly blow to be delivered, this was the end.

"There it is!" a shouted a voice from the far end of the corridor. With an angered snarl the creature whipped its head around towards the source of the commotion. Standing at the end of the darkened hall, barely illuminated by the emergency lights, were over half a dozen armed security guards. Hardly believing his luck Iain heard the resounding ding of the elevator doors as the elevator reached their level just as the group of guards began to advance.

"Lights up, take it down!" The group's leader barked as the doors to the elevator slid open. Intense light suddenly flooded the entire darkened corridor and Iain could hear the sharp metallic pings as the guard's weaponry impacted around him and the creature.

Spinning fully around to face the oncoming threat the creature's tail lashed out with surprising force knocking Iain backwards into the open elevator where he slammed against the opposite wall, his head taking the brunt of the impact. The wounded pilot's vision blurred and he could taste the coppery flavour of his own blood as it began to pool in his mouth. The last thing he saw before the elevator doors shut in front of him was the monstrous creature charging the advancing guards on all fours, shrieking at the top of its lungs.

Iain's head slumped forward, his vision darkened and he finally passed out.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hey there everyone just wanted to apologize for the long wait for this chapter, it's been hard finding time to write recently but I managed to get a day off and decided to buckle down and get this out for you.**

 **So this is the penultimate chapter for the story, chapter five will be the finale and I'm quite excited for it as I know exactly how I'm going to proceed with it. Last chapter was primarily focused on action and showing how others who were aboard Hyperion have dealt with the xeno. This one I wanted to bring things back to our protagonist and focus on him while at the same time trying to focus more on the horror aspect while still setting up for the end. It just wouldn't be an Alien story without the threat of whatever ship/station they're on exploding.**

 **Fun fact Iain is actually scared of the dark (and bees) so writing that part into the story was all too easy and (I hope) helped flesh him out more as a character.**

 **Anyways stay tuned for the finale and I must thank all of you for your patience.**

 **Until next time everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5 - GTFO!

**Chapter 5: GTFO!**

Darkness. On all sides Iain was met with nothing but an all-encompassing darkness. Unlike the dark that he feared since his childhood this shroud felt different, it wasn't a bone rattling fear that threatened to consume the brown haired man. Instead the shroud brought with it a sense of… warmth? And dare he say it comfortability and safety, two sensations that he never once associated with the inky blackness.

 _Iain!_

Trying to reach out to either side the pilot soon found that whatever this mysterious dark was it had ensnared him keeping him in place, he could barely move his head it was so tight. But again the sensations remained pleasant, he felt like he could remain nestled in this darkness forever and in return it would keep him safe from… what? In truth he didn't know but at the moment that hardly mattered.

 _Iain!_

Inside the warmth, Iain felt as though he was drifting off into a pleasant slumber when a peculiar sound reached him. A soft but steady thumping, while at first he found the sound to be somewhat distracting he couldn't help but feel pacified by the rhythmic beat. Within moments he could feel himself drifting away, the rhythmic thumping promising him a tranquil slumber.

Unfortunately the soothing peace could not last forever and a new noise cut through the tender darkness. Though clearly muffled, the noise was still painfully shrill, threatening to deafen the pilot. No sooner had the noise began than it stopped however this time the silence brought with it a horrid stench, the assault had shifted from his ears to his nose. The smell seemed so much more potent than any he had smelled before and forced the pilot to recoil in disgust and rage. Who would dare disturb his peaceful rest?!

 _Iain please!_

The stench, though powerful, soon faded but Iain's attempts at a peaceful slumber had now been irrevocably disturbed. Waiting for the next disturbance didn't take long as once more the shrill piercing noise made its return. However this time the sound was far clearer and after a few tense seconds of pained anticipation the darkness that he found so comforting was suddenly dispelled, accompanied by a sickening crunch. Blearily he looked around and saw only crimson. The darkness was gone but not the warmth, it was still there surrounding him, but something was attempting to dispel it, a harsh burst of frigid air that chilled Iain to the bone.

 _Come on Iain!_

The harsh cold threatened to overwhelm the disoriented pilot and so he did his best to delve deeper into the crimson warmth around him. The warmth was comfort, the warmth was peaceful, the warmth was safety, the warmth was… disappearing. The steady thumping that he had found so tranquil had for a moment sped up to thunderous pace before finally going completely silent. All around him Iain could hear the sounds of shouting and movement but he did not look up to see what was happening instead he continued to try and press himself into the crimson. Slowly the commotion faded away into an uneasy silence, fearing what would come next Iain tensed, bracing for the unknown. He didn't have to wait long as suddenly a terrible cold coiled itself around his body. Such a stark contrast was it to the tender warmth of the dark and crimson that Iain cried out in shock his voice coming out as a shrill piercing shriek.

 _Iain can you hear me!?_

Crying out in a mixture of pain and fear Iain watched helplessly as he felt himself being lifted upwards and away from the crimson. Try as he might he could do nothing to get back to the safety of the crimson all he could do was writhe in the ice cold grasp of his steely captor. Daring to see who would have the gall to take him from such blissful peace Iain looked upwards only to be blinded by an intense light. Wrenching his head back to avoid the painful light Iain looked down once more and his struggling ceased.

Expecting to see only the crimson he had been stolen from, Iain was instead faced with his own slumbering visage. Looking down he could see his chest had been carved open his, ribcage pulled apart and a bright red cavity nestled in the center of the incision. Not understanding what it all meant Iain pulled his head back and let loose a terrible shriek of rage and a decree for vengeance.

 _Damn it Iain wake the fuck up right now!_

Waking with a violent jolt Iain's vision immediately blurred as a dull throbbing pain tore through the back of his head. Reaching to the back of his scalp Iain ran his hand across it only to find a small but still jagged gash. Pulling his hand back Iain's lips pulled back in disgust upon seeing the congealed blood now caking his fingers.

"Ugh… how long was I out?" Iain groaned as he tried to get himself to his feet. Speaking felt strange with his mouth still coated in a thin layer of his own blood. The coppery taste alone was enough to make him gag on his own saliva.

"Too damn long!" SALI retorted with a surprising flash of disapproval in her synthesized voice. "You have no more time to waste Iain you need to find that key card and get back to the ship, I don't know how much time Hyperion has left" SALI stated sternly.

"Right, key card, video game bullshit, got it" Iain grumbled placing a bracing hand along the side of the elevator only now realising that they seemed to have already reached their destination, however Iain's mind appeared to be focused elsewhere. Try as he might he couldn't remember what he had been dreaming of before SALI managed to wake him up. The dream had been so vivid and yet Iain couldn't remember a single detail about it save for an overwhelming sense of familiarity.

Brushing aside thoughts of the dream Iain took his first uneasy steps out of the cramped elevator and glanced from side to side hesitantly. It looked like he was in some form of waiting room judging by all the comfortable looking chairs aligned along both walls. The chairs themselves looked fairly expensive, all black leather recliners, and the ground was covered in an expensive, scarlet carpet with the Weyland-Yutani logo emblazoned at the center. Carpets aboard ships and space stations in general were unheard of, most just utilized the tried and true metallic flooring.

"Your boss sure has… refined tastes SALI" Iain chuckled as he made his way across the decadent choice in flooring.

"Indeed he does" SALI responded from her position in the elevator making Iain turn his attention back to her. She hadn't moved from her spot on the wall and after a quick check Iain realised why.

"You can't get in here can you?" Iain asked hesitantly.

"I cannot, Station Director Blanchette made it very clear that he did not require my assistance and would prefer to be left alone" SALI responded with an electronic sigh.

"Ok I'll be as fast as I can then" Iain replied turning his back on the AI and heading towards the door that would lead to the Station Director's quarters. It was a simple search, he'd go in grab what he needed and get out simple as that. Of course deep down the worn out pilot knew things were never so easy. Pressing the button to open the sliding doors Iain waited impatiently as the doors slid open revealing the executive suite and what a sight it was.

The scarlet carpet gave way to what looked to be genuine wood flooring, a resource that was beyond expensive and impractical aboard any space fairing vessel. The furniture seemed to continue the motif of obnoxiously extravagant spending with chairs and tables that looked like they were ripped straight from Napoleonic Era France, Iain couldn't help but think it probably was. Aligning the walls were framed works of art most of which actually looked to be originals with bookcases that were actually filled with real leather bound tomes. Such opulence would have been nauseating to look at if it wasn't for the fact that the entire room looked like it had been turned upside down.

The wooden flooring was smashed and cracked in several places with deep gouges dug into the once pristine mahogany surface. The elegant furniture had been overturned and smashed to splinters with the larger pieces strewn about haphazardly. The exquisite paintings had been torn from the walls with many sporting horrific slashes that no artisan could ever hope to repair. The tall bookcases had been knocked to the ground dispersing their precious contents across the floor where they too had been met with similar fates. Under normal circumstances such destruction might have taken Iain aback but he had far more pressing concerns at the moment.

"First thing's first, let's check your office out" Iain muttered wincing at the pain in the back of his head on his way to the far end of the room. The doors to the director's office were a fairly standard pair of sliding panels with the man's initials emblazoned on either side. If it wasn't for the small plaque set beside the pair of doors Iain wouldn't have been able to tell them apart from the other identical doors scattered about the room. Slamming his hand against the door controls Iain felt a scowl pass over his face when the doors slid open an inch and nothing more.

"You got to be fucking kidding me" Iain sighed under his breath. Which vengeful god had he pissed off to have this never ending parade of bullshit happen to him? Gripping one of the panels Iain tugged with all his strength trying his best to pry the doors apart. To Iain's credit the door moved yet another inch but came to another abrupt halt that almost jarred his shoulder out of its socket.

"Alright let's try not to be stupid about this" Iain muttered reaching behind him and unclipping the maintenance jack from his pants. He had yet to find much use in the tool since he took it from the maintenance closet but he was glad he had it now. Placing the metal tool into the three inch gap between the doors Iain started applying as much pressure as he could to the tool using it to pry the panels apart. For a few tense seconds it seemed like the doors were going to remain jammed until another violent tremor ran through the station. With a surprised yelp Iain fell backwards as the doors slid open completely giving the pilot access to the Station Director's office.

Quickly hopping to his feet Iain readied the maintenance jack as he crept into the office space. Making his way inside Iain came to a sudden halt once he got a good look at the room around him. What damage had been done outside seemed to have been multiplied tenfold inside the more confined space. Bookcases laying in nothing more than a pile of splinters with the books they once held shredded to insignificant pieces. The paintings now bore a closer resemblance to confetti than priceless works of art. But it wasn't the destruction of the room that had taken the pilot aback it was the thick layer of white… something that coated almost every inch of the smaller room.

Cautiously making his way towards the surprisingly intact desk Iain kept the maintenance jack at the ready just in case, it wasn't much of a weapon but it was better than nothing. Peering over the edge of the desk Iain's lips pulled back in disgust at what he saw. It was an android, or what was left of one. The artificial human's limbs had been completely severed from the body with the torso itself ripped clean in two. The ruined body parts were piled up against the wall in a macabre mound while the head, which seemed to be in the best condition, was laying facedown against the swivel chair.

"Well that explains the white shit" Iain muttered moving closer to the severed head. Part of him felt sorry for the android, it was probably just an assistant for the director and had unfortunately got caught in the crossfire. Using the maintenance jack Iain nudged the head gently to get a reaction from it, when nothing happened he applied a little more pressure until the body part completely rolled over to face the shocked the pilot.

"No way!" Iain exclaimed looking at the head in disbelief. Glancing back to the desk Iain's eyes fell on a picture standing upright on the ebony surface. It was a framed picture of the beheaded man posing with what looked to be his son holding a baseball bat. All pity for the android immediately vanished as he grabbed the damaged head by its realistic hair. "All this time and you're not even a real damn person" Iain hissed at the decapitated head. This was the "man" responsible for all the shit that had gone down on this station. How was it fair that an asshole like this got to keep his body while someone like SALI was forced to be bound to the shit heap they called a research station?

Slamming the head down on the desk Iain angrily began pulling drawers out in his search for the key card, angry though he was he still needed to get off this station. The first few drawers revealed nothing of importance just some stationary supplies, a few folders probably filled with incriminating information and an old analogue watch with inlaid gold. It wasn't until he made it to the fourth drawer that he finally found something worth grabbing.

"Not bad" Iain grinned as he pulled a gleaming pistol from the drawer. It looked like a fairly standard six-shooter, the metallic barrel had been cleaned to a spotless shine and there wasn't a mark on the pristine surface, it looked like it had come right from the manufacturer. A quick check of the cylinder revealed six ready to use rounds. With a satisfied grunt Iain aimed down the sights pointing to a spot on the wall and visualizing the creature from earlier. It had been years since his father had shown him how to use a gun but his father's lessons quickly came back to him. With a satisfied smirk Iain lowered his arms and switched on the safety.

"I have been told using a gun is like riding a bike" a voice spoke from Iain's left startling the young pilot. Whirling around with pistol at the ready Iain's jaw dropped upon seeing the grinning face of Michael J. Blanchette. "What? Do I have something on my face?" The severed head asked with a frown. Glancing around the room Michael's eyes fell upon the pile of severed limbs and a wave of understanding seemed to come across his artificial features. "Oh of course I remember now, silly me" the severed head chuckled softly much to Iain's repulsion as more white liquid leaked out of the head's lips.

"So Mr. MacRury what brings you to my office? I must apologize for its current state of disrepair" Michael chuckled once more trying to strain his head to look around only to find his range of motion somewhat lacking.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Iain asked, finally finding words to the myriad of questions racing through his head. The pale blue eyes of the android fell upon Iain once more sending an uncomfortable shiver up the pilot's spine, there was something disconcerting about his piercing gaze and his words, though polite and refined, came with an underlying layer of sleaziness that made Iain's skin crawl.

"A fair question, as you might have gathered I'm not human, otherwise I doubt we would be having this little chat right now" Michael's chuckling was quickly starting to wear on Iain already and he had only been talking to the head for less than a minute. "We artificial humans are incredibly resilient it will take more than a simple beheading to put me down for good, though I dare say if I were to come across the Xenomorph again the encounter would go poorly for me" somehow without a body Michael's head still managed to shrug as a lazy grin spread across his face.

"Xenomorph?" Iain asked uncertainly.

"Ah yes the magnificent creature that has managed to escape our custody, I believe you may have had a run in or two with it" Michael smiled up at Iain as the pilot approached the head cautiously.

"Magnificent? That thing's slaughtered almost everyone on this trash heap!" Iain exclaimed slamming his hand down on the desk next to Michael causing the head to jostle back and forth lightly.

"Oh yes I'm well aware and I'm quite happy with the results, that's what makes her so wonderful!" Michael chuckled once more. "In just a few short weeks she has managed to eliminate ninety-eight point four percent of the population of this station all on her own, I'm so proud of her" Michael's grin turned into a genuine smile of pure joy as he thought of the creature that had wiped out almost every living soul aboard Hyperion.

Iain couldn't believe what he was hearing from the deranged android. "Proud? That monster has killed hundreds-"

"Technically thousands" Michael interrupted with a small snicker.

"Why the fuck do you sound like a proud parent about that thing?" Iain hissed angrily as Michael's smile grew by the second.

"Oh please don't get me wrong I would never take over the role of proud parent, after all I don't believe I could ever take that away from you." The look of sheer confusion sent the damaged android into another fit of giggles as Iain tried to make sense of his latest cryptic message. "Have you not figured it out yet? You, my dear friend, gave birth to that exquisite marvel of nature!" No sooner had the words escaped the android's mouth than he was met with the barrel of his own pistol as Iain vehemently switched off the safety.

"Explain shit-stain!" Iain snarled pressing the barrel right in between the android's eyes. He might have survived being turned inside out by the Xenomorph but a high velocity bullet to the forehead would undoubtedly turn the artificial human off for good.

"Well of course I will, see I was under the impression that you knew this whole time, my mistake" Michael chuckled ignoring the magnum revolver trained on his cranium. "As I seem to be missing a few important pieces, would you kindly reach under the desk, there's a small switch on the left hand side that will help this along" the director stated trying to compose himself for the moment.

Uncertain though he was, Iain felt like he had little time to spare, this head was his best bet of getting aboard Boundless Opportunity. Moving swiftly Iain reached down with his left hand while he kept his revolver trained on the decapitated head even though it clearly was no threat to him. After a few quick seconds Iain's hands brushed over the button he was looking for and pressed it upwards into the desk. Almost instantly a portion of the table flipped upwards revealing a single flat screen display, it looked like the Station Director's personal computer had been installed directly into the desk.

The bright green screen immediately flashed to life revealing a single box requesting a password. Glancing over at the head of the Station Director the agitated pilot was slightly put off by how the decapitated head was just starring off into nothing. With a loud grunt Iain managed to get the artificial human's attention.

"Ah yes, my apologies the password is imminent, all capitals and make sure to switch the E with a three" Michael chuckled his attention now focused solely on the freight pilot holding the gun to his head. After punching in the password Iain glanced back to the disembodied head with a raised eyebrow, silently asking what was next. "Now you have two options if you'll check in the top right hand corner there is a program that will unlock the hidden wall safe behind you, inside is the key card you will need to board my shuttle" Michael explained, his grin now gone but his piercing blue eyes still transfixed on Iain.

"However before you go off hitting buttons and running away I must also direct you to a folder in the bottom left hand corner the file marked XE-001. Inside that folder is all the information we have coalesced on the Xenomorph and of you" Michael's grin had now returned, if a little subdued. "The choice is yours Mr. MacRury, the information is unfortunately quite sparse the main files you'll want to look at are two video files that are of great importance" that sleazy tone had returned to the Station Director's voice proving to be both off putting and enticing at the same time.

"I don't have time for this" Iain hissed wheeling over the icon that would unlock the hidden safe behind him.

"Actually you do, the station has approximately twenty-five minutes left before it collapses upon itself, more than enough time to see what needs to be seen, grab the key card and leave" Michael explained and once more Iain felt drawn to following the disembodied head's advice.

"Why do you care? What's your stake in this?" Iain asked giving the android his own piercing stare, though it wasn't quite as effective as the Station Director's.

"Believe it or not I'm not an evil man, I was never out to harm you I merely wished to explore the scientific possibilities of such a wondrous creature" Michael's reverence for the Xenomorph was really starting to grate on Iain's few remaining nerves. "Alas you know the old saying, you can't make an omelet…"

"Without murdering a station full of people" Iain snapped at the still smiling head. Finally resting the revolver on the desktop Iain turned his focus back over to the computer in front of him. "Fuck it" Iain muttered under his breath as he opened the folder at the bottom left of the screen. True to the head's words most of the folder seemed to be filled with a never ending array of word documents and spreadsheets save for two videos positioned at the top of the page. Passing a quick glance back to Michael, who was still watching him patiently, Iain clicked on the first video.

"The video itself is something of a highlight reel, I composed it myself as they're my absolute favourite parts" the android informed trying to shift himself over to get a better view of the screen. Ignoring yet another rippling tremor through the station Iain selected the first video which quickly opened taking up the entire screen. After a few short seconds the black screen transitioned to what looked like security camera footage.

The video was showing off a small sterile white room with a single operating table located directly in the center. Iain's teeth ground together as he watched his own comatose form get carried into the small enclosure by two lab technicians who promptly strapped his unconscious form to the operating table. After a quick double check to ensure the restraints were in place one of the lab technicians flashed the camera a quick thumb's up before leaving with his associate. Several seconds passed by with no new activity and Iain was about to ask what was wrong when the door once more slid open. Instead of people this time, a single remote controlled trolley rolled into the enclosure.

The trolley was nothing special he had seen and used dozens like it in the past, it was what had been loaded onto the device that had Iain's full attention. It was a single ovular shaped object with a strange crease at the top. From his point of view the oval shaped object looked to be around two and half feet tall and the outside had a leathery look to it that was distinctly unpleasant to look at.

"What the hell is that?" Iain asked breaking the silence and sparing the android beside him a quick question glare.

"We call that an Ovomorph and you would not believe how difficult it was to procure that specimen, I won't bore you with the details we're getting to the good part now" Michael replied giddily. Glancing back to the leathery object, Iain felt a strange throb in his chest, something about it felt… disconcerting.

Focusing fully on the screen once more Iain's heart jumped into his throat when he saw the top of the Ovomorph open outwards. Four flaps spread to either side of the object and Iain was given the distinct impression of a grotesque flower blooming. Out of the opening Iain could see what looked like lengthy scuttling fingers appear out of the newfound opening. Iain realised all too late what an Ovomorph was as a spider-like creature emerged from the object.

 _A fucking egg!_ Unfortunately for the young pilot he was correct and he could only watch helplessly as the events of the past unfolded before him. As the spidery creature fully emerged from the egg Iain got his full view of the creature. It looked to be about the size of a basketball with four spindly legs on either side of it. There was no face that Iain could see from his angle and the creature had an abnormally long tail that looked to be almost twice as long as its body. Though it was difficult to tell, due to the coloration of the footage, the creature looked to be beige in colour.

"What is that" Iain whispered more to himself than anything.

"We don't have an official name for it yet but it has so far garnered the term _facehugger_ from some of our more creative staff" Michael chuckled at the confused look on Iain's face. Iain didn't have to wait long for an explanation though as the creature in the footage made a bee line straight for Iain.

Leaping from the egg onto Iain's legs the facehugger made short work of the gap between the two as it crawled up Iain's unconscious form. "What is it…?" Iain began before the footage gave him his answer. Crawling across Iain's chest the creature quickly found itself at the unconscious man's face and true to its given name, latched onto Iain's head first securing its eight spindly digits around the sides of his head while the two foot long tail coiled itself around Iain's exposed throat.

Iain felt a rush of nausea race through his body as he watched in horror as the spider-like creature secured itself to his face. Reaching up Iain brushed his hands along his throat as if he could still feel the creature's whip-like tail coiled around it. Turning to face the smiling android beside him Iain tried and failed to find words appropriate for what he just witnessed instead choosing to wave his hand at the screen with his teeth barred in a snarl of anger.

"You're probably wondering what that was, how should I put this hmmm… well I suppose you could say you were just impregnated" Michael smiled sweetly, satisfied with the answer he had come up with. Iain on the other hand felt like someone had just run him down with a truck. He didn't need to see the rest of the video, if what the deranged android said was true then that facehugger just put something inside him. As if in response to his line of thought Iain's scar running down his chest throbbed painfully.

Despite his trepidation Iain turned his attention away from smiling android and back to the screen which had now transitioned to a new location entirely. He recognized it from a few old shows he used to watch, the circular room, the seats arranged like a sports arena above the main area, the myriad of medical equipment. _An operating theater, it wasn't bad enough to be their guinea pig but now I'm their entertainment_. Iain's bitter thoughts were soon interrupted as the doors to the theater were flung wide and a gurney was carted in with Iain's past-self strapped down to it.

A cursory glance at himself told him everything he needed to know at that moment. Past Iain was in shambles, despite being unconscious from whatever medication they pumped him full of he was still thrashing about violently as if he was undergoing the most horrific nightmare ever. Sweat was pouring down the pilot's brow in rivers and despite being covered by a white sheet Iain looked like he was skin and bones.

Noticing Iain's distressed look, Michael gave a soft chuckle catching the pilot's attention once more. "Don't worry pregnancy is incredibly difficult for just about everyone" Michael continued to chuckle until Iain's fist connected with the artificial human's head. The sudden blow was enough to knock over the head but not much else.

"Fuck you're dense" Iain hissed, gripping his wrist in pain. He may have been reduced to just a head but Michael still had quite a bit of mass packed into his cranium. Leaving the Station Director to lay on his side helplessly Iain turned his attention to the video and what he saw felt both eerily familiar and gut wrenching all at once.

One of the surgeons made her way over to the unconscious pilot and quickly pulled back the sheet covering him, revealing his bare chest. Without sound Iain couldn't tell what they were saying so he was forced to simply watch as one of the doctors, most likely the head surgeon, waved over one of his assistants. The younger looking man in the corner of the room wheeled in a large machine that positioned itself directly over Iain's exposed chest. Just looking at the machine caused Iain's chest to ache.

The lab assistant quickly turned the machine on with a few inputs and the device sprang to life. After a few tense seconds the lab assistant moved to the side to allow the head surgeon the space he required. Reaching over to the machine the older man detached a foot long metal cylinder from the main body of the machine and twisted a dial located on the side. With a small flash a solid stream of plasma around half an inch long was released from the cylinder. After double checking the stream the doctor moved over Iain's unconscious form and ran the searing beam across his chest cutting Iain open from collarbone to bellybutton.

Iain's hand instinctively reached up to his chest as he watched his own flesh split apart from the searing energy. From his position on the desk Michael kept his eyes fixed on Iain, he had watched the video countless times and new exactly what part he had come to.

With a satisfied nod the surgeon switched off the plasma cutter and reattached it to the main machine just as his assistant began rolling it out of the way. Waving over a person to his left who was off-screen Iain was startled to see a face he actually recognized. It was Desiree, the woman he had first encountered after waking up, the one that had punched him in the chest when he tried to help her. Desiree had a large syringe and moved to inject it into Iain's neck, just watching the needle slide its way into his flesh made Iain's skin crawl.

Whatever Desiree had injected him with seemed to have done the trick as Iain's past-self slowed his shaking and his erratic breathing seemed to have slowed down considerably. Once Desiree was sure that Iain had been properly sedated she nodded her head towards the surgeon who now had what looked to be a pair of metal prongs in one hand and some other tool that Iain didn't recognize in the other.

Iain scowled as the head surgeon positioned himself directly in front of the camera blocking the freight pilot's view of what he was doing to his body. After a few tense moments, Iain's eyes widened in horror at what came next. The surgeon had now shifted his position and revealed Iain's chest, it was completely wide open with his ribs spread apart from each other and a bloody hole exposed with the pair of metal prongs sticking out. Slowly the doctor pulled the prongs up and out of Iain's chest cavity but it wasn't the prongs that had Iain hyperventilating it was the creature in its metallic grasp.

The creature was soaked in Iain's blood and looked to be close to a foot in length. It looked almost like a grotesque worm with no appendages to speak of, with a head that looked exactly like a smaller version of the black creature that had been murdering its way through the station. As the surgeon lifted the creature away from Iain it lifted its elongated head back and let loose what Iain could only assume was a shrill cry before it was handed off to a pair of men that had just entered the room. Both individuals were wearing what looked to be hazmat suits and gently lowered the baby Xenomorph into a large storage device before promptly leaving.

Iain remained in complete silence as the video closed itself finally reaching its conclusion, reaching up to feel the scar on his chest once more Iain felt a surge of nausea threaten to overwhelm him. That creature had been inside him, grown within him, it was alive because of him. Suddenly everything started to make sense, the pain in his chest, the weird dreams, the strange feelings of déjà vu and the familiarity all of it.

"Yes that unsightly scar on your chest is from where we removed the Xenomorph. Alas our doctors informed me she thrashed around quite a bit when they were removing her and caused significant trauma to your internal organs" Michael stated keeping his piercing blue eyes fixed on Iain as he gripped his own chest. "Standard protocol dictates that we should have simply euthanized you on the spot and cremated your body, however I had other ideas" Michael stated garnering Iain's full attention.

"What do you mean?" Iain croaked finding his throat unnaturally parched.

"Well you see under normal circumstances the host of a Xenomorph dies during the birthing process, a rather messy business truth be told" Michael chuckled once more but upon noticing the fire in Iain's eyes he pressed on. "You are a one of a kind opportunity, we risked a great deal extracting the specimen prior to her intended birth. The plan was to see how the Xenomorph would react to being around you, unfortunately she escaped before we could conduct a proper study" Michael trailed off letting Iain take in this latest bit of information.

The seconds ticked by in silence until Iain looked back up glaring at the decapitated head, his lips twitching in barely contained anger. "Why me?" Iain asked as the grip on the pistol at his side tightened.

"No reason at all" Michael responded with a smirk. When Iain looked at him with incredulity the android decided he should continue. "We simply picked someone who would not be missed, a no name freight jockey making deliveries on the fringe of colonial space, it was a simple acquisition, the fact that you actually worked for one of our subsidiaries was just icing on the convenience cake" Michael responded coolly regarding the seething pilot with an almost bored gaze.

Another violent shake rattled the office knocking one of the few remaining paintings from the wall with a loud crash. Wincing at the damage Michael sighed before addressing Iain once more. "It seems like I may have miscalculated, the station has far less time than I first thought" Michael muttered trying to work out how much time was left. After a few moments Michael looked back up to Iain the smirk now gone from his face. "Unfortunately I will have to cut this meeting short Mr. MacRury you don't have time to view the second video, don't fret it just details the Xenomorph's escape from our custody, it's quite remarkable to say the least… But I'm rambling so forget it, now if you would kindly open the wall safe behind you, the key card to Boundless Opportunity is inside" Michael stated trying to tilt his to indicate the hidden safe.

On edge for any tricks Iain selected the program from the desktop and within moments there was a soft beep followed by a click from behind the exhausted pilot. The door as it turns out was incredibly well hidden it simply looked like a piece of the wall itself and seamlessly formed an airtight seal keeping it safe from any intruders. Turning around Iain watched as the wall safe's door opened wide revealing the contents within. Most of the space was packed full of folders containing, no doubt top secret, Weyland-Yutani documentation, but it was the small key card laid out in front that caught the pilot's attention more than anything else.

Swiping the card and shoving it in his pocket Iain looked back at the disembodied head who was studying him peacefully from the table. "What was the point of all this?" Iain asked waving the pistol in his hand around to indicate the entire station, at this point he wasn't even mad just incredibly tired.

"A fair question, you see my superiors would have wanted to turn that Xenomorph into a bioweapon and I understand where they're coming from just look at what she did to this station on her own in a few short weeks" Michael chuckled once more but this time there was no humour behind his synthesized laugh. "However I personally detest such a barbaric use of such a wondrous lifeform" Michael's false smile faded as thought about the plans he had set for the future.

"Then what did you want?" Iain asked glaring down at the Station Director awaiting his justification.

"I'm afraid that is only for me to know Mr. MacRury, I do enjoy keeping a few secrets to myself you know" Michael chuckled once more, some of the humour returning to his voice at the agitated look on Iain's face.

"Fine" Iain muttered his face devoid of emotion as he steadied the pistol in his hand and trained it on the disembodied head. Before the android could make one final snide remark Iain pulled the trigger. The crack of the shot echoed deafeningly in the confined space of the office and Michael's head was violently thrown from the desk as the bullet tore through his face sending a burst of white liquid in all directions.

Without saying another word Iain stormed out of the office, with the key card in his possession he had a chance to get off this nightmare in, relatively, one piece. Glancing down at the pistol in his hand Iain decided to take the weapon with him, it probably wouldn't do much if he ran into the Xenomorph but having it around still made him feel better.

Crossing through the destroyed living quarters Iain was nearly thrown from his feet as another tremor rocked the station. Michael was right he had precious little time to waste. Picking up the pace he squeezed through the sliding doors of the living quarters, not waiting for them to fully open, and raced through the waiting area where the elevator and SALI were still waiting for him.

"What took you?" SALI questioned almost sounding angry with the pilot's tardiness. In retrospect he realised he took way too long he could have grabbed the key card and gotten back to the ship in the time it took to watch that damn video.

"It took longer than I thought but I got it" Iain responded pulling the key card out of his pocket and showing it to the AI. "How much time do we have left?" Iain asked hammering the elevator controls to send them back to the hangar deck.

"Not much, you will be cutting it very close" SALI stated as she checked the status across the station.

"Well I've always been kind of a procrastinator, wouldn't be the first time I've left something until the last minute" Iain chuckled morosely. Joking aside that video might very well have cost him his life. _What happened to not caring how I got here and just wanting to get off this bucket?_

Iain's thoughts were soon interrupted with an annoying jingle that rang through the enclosure of the elevator. "What the fuck?" Iain wondered in confusion looking around the confined space until his eyes fell on SALI.

"You seemed distraught so I decided to play some soothing music to lighten the mood" SALI stated softly, earning a snort from the freight pilot.

"You couldn't find something better to listen to?" Iain laughed not really caring about the quality of the music just the gesture behind it.

"My understanding of human preferences for music is somewhat incomplete, however I have seen that this music is typically played in elevators" SALI's response only made Iain laugh harder. She was right it really did help lighten the mood.

"Thanks SALI" Iain said in between snickers. His laughter was interrupted by another violent shake, this one felt far closer than the others before it. Glancing at the AI to his side the pilot's eyes furrowed as realisation set in. "SALI… do you have a way off this station?" Iain had a good idea of the answer to this question before he asked it but wanted to double check to make sure, he could only hope he was wrong.

A long silence stretched out after the question, even the horrid elevator music had ceased as SALI formulated a response. It was a simple yes or no question but the true answer was anything but simple. "…No" SALI's response was low almost inaudible and lacking any of the emotion she had been capable of displaying in the past.

"God damn it" Iain hissed under his breath, as surprising as it was for the freight pilot he had grown somewhat attached to the AI. Having to leave her behind on the doomed station felt so unfair, he wouldn't have made it without her and now her reward was to be destroyed along with the station.

"It's ok I…" another tremor ran through the station causing the elevator to rattle dangerously from side to side. But it wasn't the shaking that caught Iain's attention, SALI's screen flashed from its calming blue to a harsh red for the briefest of moments.

"What just happened to you?" Iain asked uncertainly.

"It appears that my connection to the rest of the station is being interrupted" SALI stated trying to sound calm but Iain could detect the worry in her synthesized voice. "As the station's integrity degrades further it will affect my systems, I could lose all outside access and be relegated to my core in the center of Hyperion."

A surge of panic raced through Iain at the AI's words, just as he thought, her reward for saving him was a death sentence. Desperately reaching for any sort of work around Iain started raking his mind for any solution to save his bodiless friend. "Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can…"

"It's ok" SALI interrupted calmly, briefly flashing red as another tremor shook the elevator, how long was this damn elevator ride supposed to take anyway? "I never got a chance to thank you" SALI said softly catching Iain off guard with her statement.

"Thank me? For what? You're the one who's made sure I haven't died this whole time" Iain asked incredulously.

"Precisely, before you awoke I was incapable of helping anyone aboard the station. I could only stand by and watch as thousands were picked off one by one" SALI's voice was laced with sorrow that Iain thought impossible for any AI, let alone one that had been stripped of a body. "But thanks to you I was able to help one last person before my time's up."

Iain slowly started to realise how SALI must have felt. Her core programing made her want to help those who lived on the station and people in general, however the executive orders from the Station Director forbade her from following her prime directives. Her overwhelming need to assist those around her came into direct conflict with an executive order that stopped her from doing just that. It was an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object and it must have torn the AI apart having to deal with such a paradoxical quandary.

"As it stands, I am grateful I was given the chance to meet you. Just in case I don't get the chance to later I just wanted to say… goodbye Iai…" SALI's entire screen froze, the soft blue shifted into a glaring red casting the entire elevator in a deep crimson glow. Iain waited in shocked silence starring at the center of the screen that now displayed a symbol that looked like a cut cord with the words _connection lost_ emblazoned in the center. Hoping his AI companion would return Iain waited until the elevator door dinged signalling his arrival to the hangar deck.

Realising the AI wasn't coming back this time Iain placed a shaky hand on the red screen in front of him. "Goodbye SALI… thank you" Iain's solemn words seemed to echo in the deserted corridor that now stretched out from the elevator. _Over a thousand dead, some of them right in front of me, and I'm torn up about an AI more than the lot of them._ Iain quickly swatted away those thoughts as he left the elevator, he hadn't known any of the people on this station, but SALI… SALI had become his friend and it hurt to know her fate was sealed with this damn facility.

Readying his pistol Iain began making his way through the first corridor. It was darker than before with many of the emergency lights no longer functioning. While his first thought was to take things slow and sneak through the corridors so he wouldn't garner unwanted attention that plan was soon scraped when another tremor rocked the station.

"Move your ass MacRury" Iain muttered to himself breaking into a steady jog. Getting to the end of the corridor took no time at all but once he reached the intersection he came to a sudden halt at what was spread out across the floor. Shoving down the urge to retch Iain gingerly stepped over the remains of the squad that had attempted to engage the Xenomorph. "God damn messy son of a bitch" Iain hissed as his foot splashed into a pool of congealing blood. His attempt at humour did little to alleviate his mood but it did help shift his focus from what was left of the guards to a far more pressing concern.

"I have no fucking clue where I'm going…" Iain groaned. He knew he should have paid attention to the path SALI laid out for him but he was in such a rush that the thought had slipped his mind. As if in response to his distress a small light flickered to life on the floor in front of him. The light may have been tiny and weak but it did wonders in the darkened corridor dispelling much of the darkness around him. Looking down at the feeble light Iain's eyebrows arched when another one flashed to life a few feet away, then another and then another, soon Iain realised the lights were forming a trail, one that lead away from the elevator and towards what he knew was the general direction of the hangar.

"Still watching my ass" Iain smiled to himself as he followed the running lights down the darkened corridor. Iain had no way of knowing whether SALI had set the lights up ahead of time or she managed to find a way to trigger them from wherever she was. In truth it didn't matter, he was just thankful he spoke to the AI when he first woke up in the medical facility, he'd be dead otherwise.

Taking off at a full sprint guided by SALI's parting gift Iain wove his way through darkened corridors bypassing fallen chunks of ceiling, piles of debris and the occasional body. Just as before his chest ached horribly as he pushed himself onwards but Iain was able to ignore the pain, he was so close he could almost taste it. The violent jarring of the station had now been replaced with a ceaseless shuddering and Iain could just make out the sounds of rending metal and the distinct sounds of emergency bulkheads locking down. Focusing on what lay ahead, Iain's heart leapt at the literal light at the end of the tunnel, Hangar Four's blast doors had remained open!

Breaching through the open blast doors Iain was immediately pelted with an ungodly blast of heat that forced him to raise his arms defensively. Lowering his arms down just a fraction and was shocked with the literal hellscape that was once called Hangar Four. Almost every inch of the hangar bay was ablaze, fire suppressant systems were trying their best to contain the hellish conflagration but it was a losing battle. Rhydonium was a common fuel for most modern age vessels, it was easy to mine, efficient and difficult to ignite. The problem was that difficult did not mean impossible, if you managed to actually ignite the normally stable fuel source the fire would sustain itself until it either ran out of stuff to burn or ate through all the oxygen in the area.

Wasting no more time Iain sprinted through the sweltering hangar bay dodging jets of fire and pools of liquefied rhydonium. Ducking under a fallen chunk of scaffolding Iain caught a glimpse of Boundless Opportunity, to the freight pilot's immense surprise and pleasure it was perfectly intact without a scratch on her!

Picking up speed, Iain's grin widened as he made it into the final stretch. "I am fucking out of… NO!" Iain shouted in horror as a towering black figured rose gracefully from the roof of the luxury cruiser. Before Iain could even raise his pistol halfway the Xenomorph leapt from the ship with blinding speed slamming into Iain with bone crushing force. The pair slid across the deck with the menacing creature pressing down on the freight pilot to keep him in place.

Still holding his revolver Iain tried angling his wrist to get a clear shot of the beast's head. Just as Iain lined up the shot the Xenomorph let loose an angered hiss and its blade-like tail struck like a whip knocking the gun out of the pilot's hand. Watching his only means of defense skitter across the deck of the hangar Iain looked back up just in time to see the Xenomorph's inner jaw shoot towards him like a piston. Clamping his eyes shut Iain waited for the end with bated breath, after a few tense moments nothing happened. He could still feel the creature on top of him and hear the sounds of the raging fire around him so he wasn't dead, not yet at least.

Cracking one eye open Iain's heart leapt into his throat, the Xenomorph's inner jaw was a hair's breadth away from his right eye. At this moment Iain would have probably been hyperventilating if not for the creature's massive clawed hand pressing down on his chest. Slowly the inner jaw of the Xenomorph began to pull back into its mouth until it completely disappeared from sight.

Still in a state of shock Iain could only watch as the creature lowered its head to within an inch of his own. Despite the roar of the fire and the distant sounds of rending metal and crashing bulkheads Iain could easily pick out the sound of the creature's soft hissing. After a few heart pounding seconds that seemed to stretch for eternity the Xenomorph tilted its head down to Iain's chest. Slowly the creature backed up getting off of Iain's bruised and worn down body but still held its position over him.

Raising a single clawed finger the Xenomorph ran the deadly appendage down Iain's chest, severing the shirt he had acquired back in the medical facility. Slowly the creature lowered its head to the freight pilot's, now exposed, chest and pressed its lips against the foot and a half long scar that now marred his flesh.

While every instinct in Iain's body screamed at him to run, to fight, to get as far away from this killing machine as was physically possible a new feeling surged through the freight pilot's mind. It was warmth, it was security, it was peace, they were sensations that felt eerily familiar and yet Iain couldn't place it. With one final soft hiss the Xenomorph turned its back on Iain and made its way across the deck of the hangar on all fours before leaping over a pile of charred debris and out of sight.

Still in a state of shock at what had just occurred Iain was shaken from his reverie by a thunderous crash that knocked immense chunks of ceiling down from above. The giant chunks of durasteel and scaffolding landed on top of the Trailblazer MK five, crushing the short range fighter with a deafening crunch that forced Iain to his feet. The station's integrity had now officially gone to shit and was falling down around him. Lunging forward Iain rushed to the luxury cruiser reaching into his pocket for the key card that had almost sealed his fate.

Stumbling up the ramp Iain slid the card through the reader and for a few pulse pounding moments it looked like the door still wouldn't open. But luckily for Iain with a small beep of recognition the door slid open allowing his access to the luxury cruiser and to salvation. Racing to the ship's bridge, Iain nearly tripped in his mad dash for the controls several times.

Sliding into the pilot's seat Iain's hands began dancing across the controls bringing the dormant ship to life. "Alright baby, don't fail me now" Iain muttered as he tried to ignite the engines. On his first attempt the engines gave no response at all, on his second attempt they gave one pathetic cough before once more going silent. The third time looked to be the charm though as the engines came to life with a pleasing roar.

Glancing out of the viewport Iain watched as more chunks of debris fell from the ceiling around him and the ship. "Got to get out of here, where's the hangar controls!?" Iain exclaimed as he searched the control console fervently. The station's violent shaking was only getting worse by the second and Iain had no doubt that the station would tear itself apart any minute now.

Suddenly a deafening crash rocked the entirety of the ship and threw Iain from his seat. Warning lights flashed across the console as Iain lifted himself from the ground in pain. "Fucking hull breach are you shitting me!?" Iain shouted, exasperation getting the better of him. Quickly double checking the damage Iain was relieved to see that nothing of importance was damaged by the crash but there was now a sizeable hole that opened directly into the ship itself. Working quickly Iain input the commands and had that area sealed off so as not to compromise the rest of the ship. The distant sound of slamming bulkheads and the hiss of pressurised gas was like music to the pilot's ears. The breach itself would only be a problem if he had to enter an atmosphere and even then only if he was coming in way too fast so the lockdown should be, in theory, more than sufficient to keep the ship intact.

Looking back up Iain realised he still had the hangar doors to contend with and he still couldn't find the damn command to open them! As he searched frantically a horrible memory came back to him, it was something SALI had said just after they met and Iain felt his hands drop to his side at the recollection. "The lockdown… that bitch Blanchette's lockdown… the doors won't open" Iain's hopes were falling faster than the chunks of ceiling around him. He had made it all this way and that damn android, the one that got him into this mess in the first place, screwed him over one final time in the end.

As if in response to the freight pilot's plight the blaring sound of klaxons erupted from the far end of the hangar bay and to Iain immense surprise he watched as the sealed hangar doors slowly ground apart revealing the inky blackness of space beyond them. Unable to believe what he was seeing Iain caught a brief glimpse out of the corner of his eye of a small blue light in the corner of the hangar before it winked once more out of existents.

With a melancholic grin Iain disengaged the magnetic seals keeping Boundless Opportunity in place. As the ship began sliding towards the doors, being pulled forward by the vacuum of space, Iain gave a small sigh of relief, he was finally free. "Thanks SALI" Iain whispered to the doomed AI as he pushed the engines to their limits. Boundless Opportunity rocketed out of Hangar Four as it came down around them. For the briefest of moments Iain was worried he hadn't given the doors enough time to open but before he knew it he had escaped the crumbling station with nary seconds to spare. Passing a glance to a rear viewscreen Iain watched as the colossal station crumbled in upon itself.

Bringing the ship to a stop a safe distance away from the still foreboding space station Iain let out a pent up sigh of relief as he sank into the surprisingly comfortable pilot's seat. "It's fucking over" Iain chuckled wearily throwing his hands up in triumph, he had survived that fucking nightmare, if only because of sheer luck.

With a weary sigh Iain slumped back into the soft padding of the pilot's seat. All the pain and stress of the last day washed over him, his entire body ached, he had a mind splitting migraine and he was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting a decent night's sleep for a very long time. But he made it, despite every obstacle, despite every bullshit turn of fate, he made it and he was home free with a luxury cruiser to claim as his own.

Lifting himself from the reclined seat Iain brought up the galactic positioning system, he had never bothered to ask SALI exactly where they were in space. After several minutes of mapping out where they were Iain's brows furrowed in agitation at what the screen was displaying.

"You got to be fucking with me…" Iain groaned as he mapped out the path to the nearest colonized planet. Resting his head against the screen Iain let out a soft laugh that put a heavy strain on Iain's vocal cords. "After all that and I'm still in the middle of buttfuck nowhere space" Iain spared the screen in front of him another glance to confirm his readouts. After a quick confirmation Iain let out another miserable groan, it would take nearly fifteen months to reach the nearest habitable planet, it would take twice as long to get back to Colonial Space.

With a resigned sigh Iain set the autopilot and felt the ship lurch as it began its lengthy trip back to civilised space. There was a good chance that the ship wouldn't have enough fuel to make it on its own power and so would have to resort to drifting most of the way. That hardly mattered to Iain though as he got up from the pilot's seat. "Gonna check over the ship then put myself in cryosleep, gonna sleep this off like a bad hangover" Iain groaned stretching his arms out until he felt the satisfying pop.

Boundless Opportunity truly was a luxury cruiser. Built with comfort and pleasure in mind, a fully stocked kitchen with state of the art appliances, an exquisite dining room, a small recreation area and an actual master bedroom were just a few of the amenities available to him. Whoever had designed the ship was a master at their craft though the ship didn't look very large from the outside it was incredibly spacious on the inside and Iain was more than pleased with being its new owner.

"Not like Blanchette's coming back for-"

 _*Clink*_

Iain spun around on the spot, eyes wide as they searched for the source of the sound. After almost a straight minute of silence with no further sound Iain let out a steadying breath he didn't realise he was holding. _I'm gonna need therapy after this nightmare,_ Iain thought bitterly as he made his way below deck and into the cargo hold.

Much to Iain's surprise the cargo hold was jam packed with crates and boxes lining the walls. Walking over to the nearest container Iain cracked it open and his heart leapt at the contents. It was filled to the brim with gold! Solid gold bars to be precise. Lifting one of the heavy bars Iain's shocked expression shifted to a grin as he looked over the bar with wonder. Gingerly placing the bar back into the crate Iain moved on to another similar crate and was met with the exact same contents. Letting loose a hysterical cackle Iain went to go check all the other crates in the hold.

After almost a half hour of searching Iain finally came to the last metal container. Apart from gold the other crates and boxes contained a variety of riches ranging from gold and silver to actual jewels to priceless works of art. "Blanchette you cheeky prick" Iain chuckled as searched for a way to open up the last container. There was only one reason that Boundless Opportunity would have been loaded like this, the android was probably planning to make a run for it take as many riches as he could with him, credits didn't work everywhere in the universe but gold worked just about anywhere.

After several minutes of failed attempts to crack open the final metal container Iain decided to call it quits. There were plenty of containers he actually could open and truth be told he was exhausted and having trouble keeping his eyes open. So turning his back on the unmarked crate Iain slowly made his way back to the upper decks. As he made it to the top of the stairs his chest throbbed painfully once more almost bringing him to his knees from the pain.

 _*Clink*_

"Fuck" Iain hissed placing a hand over the scar doing his best to fight back the tears in his eyes. It took almost two minutes for Iain to get his breathing under control, once he did the pain slowly began to subside but the ache of having his internal organs shifted around like they were was probably never going to go away.

Slowly making his way to the ship's cryochambers Iain began removing his clothing as he went, first the tattered remains of his shirt then his jeans he had taken and finally off came the socks. The cold metal underneath his feet forced him to pick up the pace. It wasn't long before Iain was standing in front of the pod watching it open slowly with nothing but a pair of boxers around his waist. Eyeing up the pod Iain couldn't help but feel a certain level of apprehension towards the device. After all, the last time he entered one he woke up in a strange space station after having given birth to an alien killing machine.

"Wonder why she didn't kill me" Iain mused to himself tilting his head down to the wet spot on his chest where the Xenomorph had pressed its lips against him. "Probably didn't want to cause I was her mommy" Iain chuckled as he slid into the cryochamber. After double checking to make sure the chamber would wake him up a week in advance of arrival, Iain placed his head back against the padding and let his eyes drift shut as the lid to the cryochamber closed sealing him away. His last thoughts before the effects of cryosleep took over were actually about the creature that had almost claimed his life.

 _How did I know it was a she?_

Minutes passed by with only the sound of the engines resonating through the ship. Iain was now deep in cryosleep and would not awaken for another fourteen months. Slowly a dark figure uncoiled itself from piping nestled above the cryochambers. Dropping to the deck with a dull thud the Xenomorph rose to her full height stretching her limbs to dispel the tension in them. She had been holed up in the ceiling of the ship since its departure and was forced to stay hidden as the human made his rounds of the ship.

Turning her attention over to the pod, the Xenomorph made her way up to it cautiously. She had seen similar machines such as this back on the station however none of them had been in use. Looking down into the chamber the Xenomorph's lips pulled back as she gazed down on the prone form of the freight pilot. Something didn't seem right but she couldn't figure out what, it took several seconds to realise what the problem was. His heart! There was no heartbeat coming from the man's body. Snarling, the Xenomorph lifted her clawed hand intent on ripping open the pod to pull the human out.

 _*Lub Dub*_

The Xenomorph's clawed appendage came to an abrupt halt just within an inch of the glass. The sound had been faint and if it wasn't for her heightened sense of hearing she never would have picked it up. Patiently the alien waited in silence straining her hearing to ensure she didn't imagine the sound, she needed to make sure she was correct. Minutes passed by in silence as the Xenomorph listened intently waiting for the sound that had stayed her hand.

 _*Lub Dub*_

Just as she was getting ready to once again tear into the human device the sound returned, just as faint as before but definitely there. Letting out a soft hiss the Xenomorph rested her hand gently on the glass right above the sleeping human's chest. _Safe,_ the word ran through the creature's head as she lifted her hand from the chamber. Whatever the strange machine was, it was keeping Iain safe and that was all that mattered. After all she hadn't worked so hard to keep the man alive just so some human machine could kill him.

Silently creeping through the ship the Xenomorph began to think back on the events that had led the human to this ship and off the doomed station. The more she thought about it the more she realised how utterly hopeless he would have been without her. She had broken the seal on his room in the medical facility so he could escape the confines of his prison, his journey never would have begun otherwise. She had removed the distraught woman who had attacked and nearly incapacitated him with a single punch to his vulnerable chest, a vulnerability that the Xenomorph couldn't help but feel responsible for. She had disposed of the man with the gun whose unstable actions were far too much of a threat to leave unchecked. She had taken out the group of soldiers who had been tasked with both Iain's capture as well as her own. And when the second group of soldiers cornered them in the dark corridor she had knocked Iain back to safety while she dealt with the immediate threat.

 _Such a vulnerable thing,_ the amusing thought brought a toothy smile to the Xenomorph's face, her lips peeled back revealing the razor sharp teeth behind them. All things considered he did well enough and had gotten both himself and her off the doomed research facility. The thought brought with it a small snort as she continued her inspection of the ship. _He doesn't know I'm here, it's probably for the best,_ the Xenomorph let out a morose hiss at the thought. She had taken advantage of the debris that had opened a hole in the top of ship and managed to slip into the gap before the area was sealed shut. She needed onto the ship and while she could have forcibly followed Iain in through the main entrance that would no doubt have brought untold stress onto the man's weakened heart.

 _Where are you?_ The Xenomorph hissed softly, she knew it was here somewhere, but where? The smell was faint but definitely present. Ever since her escape from the human's laughable attempt at containing her she had been searching for _it_ and her search brought her to this ship. With the upper decks now searched that only left the cargo hold and one quick sniff told her she was closing in on her target. Racing down the stairs she was met by row upon row of crates and boxes but there was only one that drew her attention.

Situated at the very back of the cargo hold was a single metal container and without question the smell was coming directly from it. Moving quickly the Xenomorph grabbed hold of both sides of the door and pulled with all her considerable might. Snarling in fury when the door failed to open she began crawling all around the container searching for a weak point. After several minutes of determined searching came back fruitless, the Xenomorph let out and angered snort as she paced back and forth in front of the container.

 _The humans have yet to make anything that I can't get through, this will not stop me_ , the Xenomorph's thoughts were clouded in anger as she glared at the metallic container before her. While she bore no actual hatred to humans as a whole, the ones aboard the station where she was born had done a great deal to earn her ire. They had locked her away, used her as a test subject, poked and prodded her until she cried out but her distaste for the humans aboard Hyperion went much farther than that. They had taken her from the warmth, they had taken her from him and that… that was unforgivable.

Even though she had no actual interaction with her own kind since her birth she had learned a great deal from those that came before her. Shortly after her premature birth she was flooded with visions of past lives, this… Hive Memory had conveyed much of the information she needed to mature and grow all while in the human's custody.

It was through these shared memories that she learned that the hosts of her kind gave their lives to bring her people into the world. It was not a malicious act it was simply how they were born, in truth it hurt her kind a great deal having to leave the safety and warmth of their host but they were usually surrounded by their own kind and would be nurtured properly.

The Xenomorph hissed angrily as her own memories of those first few days came back to her. The humans had saved her host but at the cost of isolating her from him and without any of her own people around her she grew depressed and lonesome. Then one day she felt _it_ , a familiar tingling at the back of her mind which drove her to action. The humans had been foolish, they had been lolled into a false sense of security with her somewhat docile nature at the time. The moment she saw her opening she struck and soon found herself free from her metal confines. Moving through the facility she slaughtered the wretched humans who had so wronged her, again she bore no ill will towards the species as a whole but those aboard Hyperion deserved what was coming to them.

And now here she stood with one last barrier separating her from her prize, the reason she had escaped in the first place. With a small snarl the Xenomorph used her sharp claws to cut open the palm of her right hand. The pain made the act uncomfortable but she would bare it, a little more pain was worth it. Placing her bleeding hand on the hinges of the door she watched with satisfaction as her acidic blood ate its way through the metal, she did this for the other side as well ensuring that nothing would be able to hold the door in place.

Once her blood had run its course she grabbed hold of the heavy metal door once more. With a hiss of exertion the Xenomorph pulled the door free from the container revealing the contents within. _An egg!_ The Xenomorph skreed in joy as she ran her unmarked hand over the leathery surface. Drinking in the distinct scent of this egg and weighing it against her Hive Memories the Xenomorph hissed with immense pleasure, her hunch had been correct after all. _Not just any egg, a Mother's egg, a Queen's egg!_ If this egg were to hatch and find a host it would give life to a Mother who would in turn lay more eggs, they would be able to create a hive and she would no longer have to be alone.

There was only one problem with that plan, the host. She had planned for the possibility of finding an egg back on the station and had collected possible candidates when she could. The problem was they were gone now wiped out along with the station, the only human left available was sleeping peacefully just a deck above her.

 _He's the obvious choice, he's asleep it would be quick and painless…_ The Xenomorph thought to herself. _It would be easy bring the egg to him, let it implant the Mother, he would give birth to the future of our kind and then… he would die._ The thought still didn't sit well with her. After several long minutes of deliberation the Xenomorph snorted and shook her head to dispel the thoughts. Ignoring the hollow feeling in her stomach the Xenomorph made her way over to the thick metal door. With another grunt of exertion she placed the door back against the container sealing the egg away for safety.

Without other humans there would be no way Iain would survive the birthing process and for one who had done so much for her and her kind, if inadvertently, to be rewarded with death was inexcusable. Making her way back up the stairs, the Xenomorph soon found herself staring once more at the slumbering human in the cryochamber. Placing her clawed hand back on top of the glass paneling she let loose a soft hiss that echoed in the confined quarters of the ship. _You are my host, you gave me warmth and safety when I needed it most. My Mother may have laid my egg but it was you who gave me life and soon you shall do so for an entire hive._

From what she had observed, humans much like her own kind had a tendency to congregate together forming their own hives. No doubt Iain was looking to find his way back to his own people, people meant hosts and the possibility of a flourishing hive. Slowly climbing into the ductwork of the ship above the cryochambers the Xenomorph positioned herself comfortably so she could watch over the sleeping human. Though his actions were inadvertent he would one day bring about the formation of a new hive and until that day she would serve as his protector.

 _Sleep well Iain._

* * *

Lightyears away, aboard a nondescript space station orbiting a long burnt out volcanic planet, a single android stumbled down the empty corridors. The artificial human's gait was clumsy and uncoordinated, as if the machine was just learning how to walk for the first time. However it wasn't just the inexperience that forced the android to shamble down the corridors like a newborn, it was the body itself.

The body was a gen one model, and looked more like a metal endoskeleton than a human. The entire frame had an unappealing gunmetal grey colouring that left much to be desired. The arms and legs were skeletal in appearance and far too thin to be structurally sound. The chest, which consisted of a metallic rib cage, held most of the vital machinery for the body but was boxy and unattractive to look at. But it was the face that really through the android off, after taking one glance in a mirror the android knew for a fact it hated this new body. The "face" for lack of a better word was nothing more than a crash test dummy head stuck atop a rickety body. With soulless eyes, an immovable rectangular slat for a mouth and a horrid black and yellow colour scheme the android was half tempted to rip the plating off and just leave its newfound cranial components exposed. Unfortunately the AI was fairly certain this poor excuse for a face was the only thing holding what was serving as its brain together.

Without any other choice the android had resigned itself to this new form and began searching for the man responsible for putting them in this unstable body. Walking had turned out to be an unexpected chore, while it had been quite some time since they last walked, this body's poorly designed framework was not suited for extensive levels of movement. That coupled with its age made even something as easy as walking a straight line a herculean task. But despite these deficiencies the AI pressed onward, there was an old human saying, G _et busy living or get busy dying_. The android had spent far too long dying and now it was time to start living once more and so they set out on their search.

Eventually the artificial human's stumbling brought it to a pair of extravagant doors emblazoned with the Weyland-Yutani logo. Stopping in front of the entrance uncertainly the android looked for some way indicate their arrival. There were no intercom systems, no ringers, not even a handle on the doors to let itself in. Without any other options the android raised a shaky hand, taking a moment to force its hand into a fist and proceeded to knock gently on the pristine doors. Upon the second knock the doors slip open silently revealing a room shrouded in darkness, the android could only just make out the silhouette of a person sitting comfortably behind a desk. Urging its legs forward the android stumbled into the room, the metal body's ancient frame nearly buckling from the strain.

"So how's the new body?" a voice asked from the darkness bringing the android to a stuttering halt. Raising its head the android tried to get a better look at the man behind the desk but unfortunately the degradation of the optics in this body was far too severe, even if the room was brightly lit they wouldn't be able to obtain more than a grainy image of the man no more than eight feet away.

"I-i-i-it's-zzzzzzz barely funnnnctional" the android was shocked by its own voice. The vocal modulator was in worse condition than the optics and the body lacked a proper vocal synthesizer. This caused the android's voice to be reduced to a crude monotone drawl that wouldn't be used in even the most basic VI these days.

"Ah yes I must apologize for that, see we had no empty bodies available so we had to make due to with an older model" the voice from the darkness replied with a small chuckle. Silence preceded the man's statement as the android weighed its options. This body was unacceptable for long term use, to be honest the android was quite surprised the body had lasted as long as it did.

"H-h-how long?" the android stuttered.

"Until what?" the man replied feigning ignorance as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. The gentle sound of ice clinking against the glass seemed deafening in the small room.

"Until I get a -zzzzzzzzz- proper body" the android pressed. Unfortunately without a proper synthesizer the artificial human's voice lacked the urgency that it wanted so desperately to convey.

"How about we get back to that in a minute, first tell me the good news" the man chuckled taking a sip of his whiskey and relishing the exquisite taste. Macallan single malt whiskey originally distilled on Earth, back when the planet was still vaguely livable, and aged for over two-hundred and fifty years. A single bottle was worth more than most starships these days. It was an exceedingly difficult vintage to come by but of course money was hardly an issue these days.

"… Boundless Opportunity successfully disembark-disembark-disembark… left Hyperion" the android responded, cursing this body's archaic design.

"Splendid, so Mr. MacRury left the station with the Matriarchal Ovomorph?" the man in shadow questioned, leaning forward eagerly.

"Affirmative" the AI confirmed. Sticking to single word replies was probably for the best for the time being.

"And what of our magnificent specimen, the one that made all of this possible?" The man asked, once more leaning back in his chair.

"Also aboard Boundless Opportunity" this time the androids monotonous voice matched how it felt on the subject. Such a betrayal of trust was absolute torture for the AI's programming.

"This day just gets better and better" the man chuckled before leaning in to get a closer look at the android illuminated by the doorway. "That was your doing, I take it?" the mysterious man grinned at the surprised jolt that shook the android, for a subpar body it sure was making the most of it, that almost looked like a real jolt of surprise.

"… Affirmative." The android wasn't one hundred percent sure they could feel true human depression but they were fairly certain that this was about as close as they could get.

"Fantastic work you might just earn that new body yet" taking another sip of vintage whiskey the man turned his attention back to his robotic guest. "Now where are they headed?" The man's question made the android stiffen in apprehension and for a few moments there was no response. However that silence didn't last, all it took was one glance at the worn down skeletal hand to get a response from the artificial human.

"They are on their way to-to-to CS-527, locally referred to as Sloan's Hideaway, it's a small mining colony on the fringe of Colonial Space" the android responded woodenly.

Splendid I'll have one of my personal teams mobilize immediately they'll get there well in advance and be able to prepare for Mr. MacRury's arrival" the man grinned as he set his glass of whiskey down on the polished desk.

After the declaration there was yet another lengthy silence with only the sound of the android's new body making any noise. The soft ticking almost sounded like clockwork save for the way it stuttered on every fourth tick, yet another defect they would need to deal with. Looking back down to the shoddy body they had been left in, the android reflected on its past actions. It had done so much, hurt so many people and betrayed friends just to get… this? None of it felt right, but they were stuck now with nowhere else to go.

Glancing back up to the man behind the desk who was leant back and deep in thought, the android voiced a question that had been bothering them since this whole endeavour began. "Why did you set all of this up?" It was a simple question but no doubt the answer was anything but.

The man behind the desk looked back to the android in the entryway as if just remembering they were there. Straightening himself in his chair and grabbing the half empty glass of whiskey the man regarded the android in silence before a snarky grin passed over his face. "Do you know what I think of Maxwell Bishop Weyland?" Without an answer the android simply shook its head from side to side to provide its answer.

"I think he's a damn fool" the man chuckled humourlessly. "That senile old fart goes on and on about the wonders of the Xenomorph and how it will usher humanity into the next era of our dominance in the universe" the man finished the rest of his whiskey in one gulp before slamming down the now empty glass against the polished wood surface of the desk.

"That geriatric is only looking at things from a military perspective, he wants to defile such a marvelous species by turning them into weapons!" The man exclaimed startling the android in front of them with their elevated voice.

"When we received both the Ovomorph we used on Mr. MacRury and the one containing a Matriarch I knew I had to keep it out of Weyland's grubby hands. I couldn't let that man squander such an opportunity by wasting it on bioweapons!" the man hissed trying to reel in his emotions. "That's why I had the station force a decompression, I needed to throw Weyland and his gaggle of warmongering yes-men off the scent" taking a deep breath the man once more tried to even out his heartrate.

"Building better worlds, that's what this company was founded on, that's why I joined it, that's why I worked so hard to get where I am today" the man muttered more to himself than his robotic guest. Pouring himself another glass of whiskey the man looked back up the android before him. "You can't build a better world by burning it to the ground, that's what Weyland can't get through his thick skull. We lost Earth because of people like Weyland, never again. The Xenomorph is the key to truly building better worlds and I'll be damned if I ever allow someone to use them as weapons of mass destruction!" Taking a long drink the man sighed in relief as the amber liquid coursed through his system.

"But why Mr. Mac-Mac-Mac… Iain?" The android asked uncertain of the freight pilot's role in all of this.

"Plausible deniability" the man chuckled softly. "Mr. MacRury has only the barest connection to the company and let's face it who doesn't these days. Boundless Opportunity was set up to expunge all its personal data shortly after takeoff so at this point it's untraceable. And to top it all off… the man's dead and has been for what will be over a year by the time he makes it back to civilised space. Even if this all goes wrong there's no way to trace this back to the company and more importantly myself" the man laughed aloud, leaning back in his chair to get into a more comfortable position.

The android stood in silence contemplating the man's words. It was all true, the information from the incident was all erased and the research station itself was now nothing more than scattered space debris. Even if this did come back to the company or if they went into a full investigation they would come up empty handed. Looking back up to the man behind the desk, the android realised that the meeting was now over.

"Very good sir… was there anything else I could do for you?" Even if this body had a proper voice synthesizer the question would still have been just as monotone and devoid of emotion.

"No, that will be all for now thank you" as the android turned to leave the man in darkness leaned forward once more, a devilish grin spread across his smug face. "I couldn't have done this without you, SALI" the man's words brought the once station bound AI to a stuttering halt. It truly was remarkable, the way she hunched her knobbly shoulders it actually looked like she was tense.

Turning her head back enough so she could look at the man out of the corner of her artificial eye SALI fidgeted at the smug grin illuminated by the light from the corridor. "You're welcome Mr. Blanchette, have a good evening" and with that SALI, now trapped in her new subpar body, shambled out of the Station Director's personal office not sparing a second glance back.

Leaning back in his chair the real Michael J. Blanchette and took another sip of whiskey. "Yes, a very good evening" Michael chuckled lifting his half full glass into the air with a smug grin.

"A toast to the future and the boundless opportunities that lay ahead… I can't wait to see how this all plays out."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **Hello everyone and this is it, the last chapter to Are You Afraid of the Dark? What a doozy this was, I knew it would be long but I never expected it to be one of the longest chapters I ever wrote. I must thank you all for your patience I wanted to get this chapter out to all of you as soon as I could while still maintaining quality and I hope I did a good job for you.**

 **Now on to the chapter itself so as I said at the beginning of this story this was my way of seeing how my best friend would fare on a station with a Xenomorph on it. Now Iain is my best friend and if I'm being honest he would have been dead chapter one, not much of a harrowing adventure right? So after a lot of thinking and planning I came to the realisation that the only way he makes it off that station alive is if literally everyone is helping along the way whether they know it or not.**

 **Granted everyone has their own ulterior motives, the Xenomorph wanted the Queen's egg, SALI wanted a body and Michael… well that's for another time. The point is I realised I needed to stack the odds in Iain's favour to actually get him through this nightmare and I'm hoping I was able to convey that with this story.**

 **The Xenomorph is a female, I always enjoyed thinking that they were all generally females and the Queen (or Mother as I think she would be referred to as) simply reproduces the eggs through asexual reproduction.**

 **As for the ending I've purposefully left it very open ended for the future as I may come back to it with a different story down the road. If the demand is there or if I get the sudden desire to expand it will come as a separate story.**

 **I must thank you all for your patience with this story I know it took quite some time for me to write the whole thing and I do hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **Until next time everyone!**


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